Rajshahi WASA triples water tariff from today
Rajshahi Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has tripled the water tariff from today.
Last month, Rajshahi WASA made the announcement through notices on its website and newspapers.
The institute's governing board decided to increase the price of water as per the law in order to keep the costs of water production, and supply to a bearable level, Md Zakir Hossain, managing director of Rajshahi WASA, told The Daily Star today.
He said the water extraction costs have gone up and supply expenditures also became high. In the meantime, the authorities had to improve the quality of services, he said.
According to the notice, the residential water price, which was Tk 2.27 per thousand litres till January 31, has been increased to Tk 6.81.
At the same time, the commercial water rate, which was Tk 4.54 per thousand litres before, has been fixed at Tk 13.62.
It was mentioned in the notice that the new price list would be based on diameter of the used pipes and floors of the buildings.
The officials said, for water connections that do not have metres yet, water prices will be adjusted depending on the diameter of the pipes and the floors of the buildings.
Residents would be charged a minimum of Tk 150 per month for using WASA water through a half-inch pipe in the ground floor and Tk 825 for the 10th floor.
Residents will be charged Tk 375 for using water through a one-inch pipe in the ground floor and Tk 2,070 on the 10th floor.
Water bills will increase proportionately from second to ninth floor or for the upper floors.
Rajshahi WASA officials said, the water bills were last increased in 2014.
"The decision of increasing water tariff is unacceptable and it is against the public interest," Zamat Khan, general secretary of Rajshahi Rakkha Sangram Parishad said, when contacted today.
He said they could not hold a protest against the water tariff hike because of the pandemic situation and that they would wage protest against the decision soon.
Comments