KARACHI, Nov 21: The KWSB’s anomalous water tariffs structure has become a matter of concern for the owners of flats as they have to pay more than what the owners of houses are being charged.

A study of the new tariffs structure for water and sewerage charges, which the KWSB introduced on July 1, after replacing the age-old NARV (Net Annual Rental Value) based tariffs system, showed that their is a wide gap between the rates fixed for the flats and those for the independent houses.

For stance, water rate fixed for a flat, measuring 500 square yards — 55 square yards — is Rs408 per year, whereas the rate for a house built on an area up to 60 square yards has been fixed at Rs312 per year.

Similarly, water rate fixed for an apartment of 122 square yards is Rs1020 as against Rs408 for a house, measuring 120 square yards; 200 square yards flat (i.e. 1800 square feet) is being charged Rs2640 as against Rs612 fixed for a house of 200 square yards; Rs5,184 for a flat of 300 square yards (2700 square feet) as against Rs924 for a 300 square yards house; Rs7,296 for a flat of 400 square yards (3600 square feet) as against Rs1,332 of 400 square yards house; Rs10,656 for a flat of 500 square yards (4500 square feet) as against Rs1932 of a 500 square yards house and Rs13692 for a flat of 611 above square yards flat (5500 square feet) as compared to Rs1,932 of a 600 square yards house.

The owners of flats would not only be paying more than what the owners of independent houses would pay under the head of water charges, but their sewerage and conservancy charges bills would also swell because of their higher payment. The sewerage and conservancy bills are charged at 25 per cent of the total amount of the water bills.

When such an anomaly was brought to the notice of the KWSB’s deputy managing director (Revenue and Resource Generation), Syed Akhlaq Hussain, he said that as a matter of fact, those having independent houses are required to leave certain space open as per law of compulsory open-space, whereas no space is left open in the flats.

With the introduction of the new water tariffs from July 1, the KWSB had discontinued billing and collection of conservancy and fire tax charges on behalf of the city government, thus restricting its billing to water and sewerage charges only.

Under the new tariffs structure, the billing for water and # sewerage charges, has been separated from conservancy and fire tax, doing away with the system of combined billing.

The KWSB has, however, printed two separate bills — one for water/sewerage charges and another for conservancy charges/ fire tax — and both the bills have separate bank account numbers of the KWSB and the city government for their direct credit.

The perturbed owners of flats said that on the one hand they are charged a hefty amount by builders for providing water connections before handing over the possession of the flats and, on the other, the KWSB has fixed their water rates on a higher side as compared to independent houses.