ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: Prices of utilities in the country have increased by 71 to 135 per cent since the military takeover in 1999 except the electricity tariff which went up by only 17.5 per cent.
The comparison of various utilities has been made by Wapda secretariat and circulated to various public and private institutions. It involves ten different products and seven utilities.
The report has taken June 30, 1999, for the base prices and Sept 1, 2003, for latest rates.
The PIA fair for Lahore-Islamabad economy class was Rs1,325 in 1999 which has now reached Rs2,260 with an overall increase of 71 per cent.
Economy class Lahore-Rawalpindi railway fair was Rs55 in 1999 which has now gone up to Rs115 per passenger, showing an increase of 109 per cent.
The ordinary envelop of the postal department available at Rs2 in 1999 is being sold at Rs4 per envelop, showing an increase of 100 per cent. Similarly, a 20-gram registered post costing Rs10 in 1999 has now gone up to Rs15, showing a rise of 50 per cent.
The natural gas price has increased from Rs89 per MCFT (thousand cubic feet) in 1999 to Rs185 at present depicting a 108 per cent upsurge.
The petrol price has increased by 21 per cent, from Rs26.32 per litre in 1999 to Rs31.90 per litre. Diesel price increased by 101 per cent, from Rs10.64 per litre to Rs21.41 per litre. The furnace oil prices, however, increased by 135 per cent, from Rs5,500 per ton in 1999 to Rs12,937 per ton.
The line rent of Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) has increased by 81 per cent, from Rs144 per month to Rs261 at present.
The average power tariff has increased by 17.5 per cent, from Rs3.48 per unit in 1999 to Rs4.09 per unit at present. This is despite the fact that public sector agencies still owe Rs37.07 billion to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) as on July 31, 2003.
Wapda says that it collected Rs30.192 billion as taxes on behalf of the government during 2002-3, which included Rs25 billion general sales tax (GST), Rs1.735 billion as electricity duty and Rs3.452 billion withholding tax.
The Wapda chairman is of the view that the Authority should not be used as tax collecting agency so that its consumer tariff comes down significantly.
The utility also says that it has reduced new connection charges from Rs3,900 to Rs3,000 for single phase and from Rs9,400 to Rs8,000 for three phase meters.