LAHORE: A sustainable business plan of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) seeking a decrease in aquifer charges and an increase in water & sewerage charges for domestic, commercial and industrial consumers has been referred to the Punjab Cabinet for approval.

The plan was referred by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) governing body in a recent meeting.

The officials term the plan a lifeline for Wasa that must be approved at any cost since the tariff was not rationalised for the last 15 years or so.

“The total revenue Wasa earns annually (through water and sewerage charges and levy of other fees) only meets the expenditures on salary, pension and medical bills etc. It is facing severe financial hardships in clearance of huge monthly bills (tube wells operation), their maintenance and other operational expenses,” a spokesman for Wasa told Dawn on Sunday.

Officials term the sustainable business plan lifeline for Wasa

“Wasa needs about Rs3bn per annum to meet its entire operational expenses. It has not been receiving the subsidy from the government for the last couple of years,” he said, terming approval of the Wasa’s business plan necessary for its sustainability.

According to a report, submitted to the LDA’s governing body in a recent meeting, Wasa’s sustainable business plan was first submitted in a meeting held in December last year. During the meeting, the authority had constituted a committee to deliberate on the plan and finalise it. The committee remarked: “The downward revision proposal for aquifer charges for individual water extractors was considered along with rationalization of water supply and sewerage charges of Wasa consumers. It was observed that there should be different tariff slabs for aquifer charges for approved and unapproved/illegal housing schemes. The unapproved schemes should be charged higher. So a committee headed by Wasa Vice Chairman is constituted to deliberate and finalize the Wasa plan (sic)”.

The committee reviewed the proposal in depth and, while discussing the ‘Reduction in Aquifer Charges for Individual Water Extractors (Domestic)’, pointed out that Wasa had already levied aquifer charges and it was currently charging Rs50,000 and Rs25,000 per month on the tube wells of 1 cusec and half cusec, respectively.

“If the above stated tariff is imposed proportionately on individual domestic water extractors (who are extracting underground water by installation of one to 2 horse power capacity ejector pumps with dia ¾ of one of the delivery pipes), the minimum aquifer rate will come to Rs1,250 per month. The said rate is on the higher side for an individual domestic water extractor as compared to the water supply of Wasa to its own consumers. Therefore, to avoid the discrimination and litigation as well as to ease out the domestic consumers, Wasa has proposed the decrease (in) aquifer charges for individual domestic water extractors,” reads the paper.

The committee, according to the paper, realized that the reduction in rate proposed by Wasa for the residents of legal private housing schemes approved by the LDA was quite reasonable. However, the charges for the residents of unapproved/illegal housing societies should be 50pc higher than the illegal schemes. The independent localities (not falling within jurisdiction of any private housing societies) will also be treated as the residents of legally approved societies.

The committee recommended reduction in the aquifer charges for the individual domestic consumers. The new rates proposed both for legal schemes ranged from Rs143 to Rs785 per month (3 marla to 2 kanal house) while Rs215 to Rs1177 were recommended for the residents having 3 marla to 2 kanal houses in illegal housing schemes.

The committee also recommended reduction in the tariff of small industrial/commercial consumers. The new tariff proposed included Rs1,250 to Rs2,500 from Rs2,500 to Rs5,000 (for those extracting water using the 1 to 2 cusec motors), Rs2,501 to Rs5,000 from Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 (2.1 to 4 cusecs) and Rs5,001 to Rs7,500 from Rs10,001 to Rs15,000 (4.1 to 6 cusecs).

It recommended an increase in Wasa tariff (water and sewer) from Rs21.9 to Rs25.19 (up to 5,000 gallons), Rs35.46 to Rs43.26 (up to 20,000 gallons), Rs46.41 to Rs58.94 (over 20,000 gallons). The tariff for commercial/industrial consumers was recommended to be raised to Rs107.54 from Rs93.51, Rs192.14 from Rs167.08 and Rs277.94 from Rs241.69, respectively (5,000 to over 20,000 gallons).

The Wasa managing director told Dawn the plan had already been discussed and deliberated on by a high profile resource mobilisation committee of the Punjab government.

“Hopefully, it will be approved by the Cabinet soon. And if it is not approved, the Cabinet, then, will have to approve an annual subsidy for ensuring Wasa’s sustainability,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2021