The Rajshahi Water Supply and Sewerage Authority has proposed 30 per cent increase in the water tariffs to reduce subsidies.
It has already sent a proposal to the Local Government Division of the local government, rural development and cooperatives ministry, seeking approval, as the utility agency鈥檚 board has authority to hike prices only up to 5 per cent at a time.
According to official documents, the government agency has proposed to increase the water prices from Tk 6.81 to Tk 8.85 per unit for domestic consumers, and from Tk 13.66 to 17.70 per unit for commercial consumers.
Earlier in February 2022, Rajshahi WASA trebled the water price鈥攆rom Tk 2.27 to Tk 6.81 per unit for domestic consumers, and from Tk 4.54 to Tk 13.66 per unit鈥攆or commercial consumers to adjust the production cost.
According to WASA officials, the daily demand for water in Rajshahi city is about 13.50 crore litres, but the utility agency can produce 10.7 crore litres. As a result, the city witnesses a shortage of 2.8 crore litres of water a day.
At present, Rajshahi WASA spends Tk 9.30 to produce and provide one unit, or 1,000 litres, of water to its 48,527 households and 721 commercial entities, using 123 deep tube wells and a 859-kilometre network of pipelines.
According to its annual reports, the utility agency earned Tk 17.72 crore by selling 255 crore units of water in 2023鈥�24 fiscal year against an operational cost of Tk 23.52 crore.
Md Nadim Sarwar, deputy managing director for finance and administration at Rajshahi WASA, told 抖阴精品 that they had sent the proposal to the local government division intending to reduce subsidies.
He said that the decision to increase the water tariffs by 30 per cent was approved at the 16th board meeting held in October 2024 as there was an instruction from the high-ups of the government to reduce the subsidy on water.
Golam Mostofa Mamun, general secretary at the Consumer Association of Bangladesh Rajshahi district unit, told 抖阴精品 that the proposal to increase the water tariffs was illogical.
He said that according to the Rajshahi WASA latest audit report, about 3,00,00,000 litres of the produced water is lost every day due to leakage, wastage or theft, causing the utility agency a yearly loss of Tk 9.87 crore.
鈥業nstead of taking effective actions in reducing non-revenue water loss and eradicating corruptions and irregularities, WASA are increasing the water tariff, which can never be accepted,鈥� he added, saying that they would go for a tougher movement against the attempt if the authorities did not back down from its plan.
