Water Board to sell or lease unutilised lands to raise funds
The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) is considering selling or leasing its unutilised lands to reduce debt, top officials said.
The board is grappling to offset losses in revenue owing to ever increasing non-payment of water bills by public entities and consumers in the COVID-19 crisis.
The accumulated arrears and the default in water bill payment increase will lead the board towards the risk of severe financial stress, officials said.
Chairman of the NWSDB Nishantha Ranatunge said that the daily expenditure is growing for the water purification process as the price of chlorine and electricity bills have skyrocketed recently.
The only remedy at present is to sell or lease the lands owned by the board to raise money for day-to-day management, he said adding that this plan is under consideration but no final decision has been taken.
Measures have been taken to minimise the wastage of water, introduce solar energy to generate power and other cost cutting initiatives as well as to recover the accumulated dues of electricity bills amounting to over Rs. 8 billion from consumers, he disclosed. Overall these consumers have so far failed to pay a sum of Rs. 8.42 billion in water bill payments, he pointed out
The concession given by the board to consumers assuring them that there won’t be any disconnections for non-payment of water bills resulted in the increase in the default rate, he added.
However the board is now sending final red notices to defaulting consumers with very high arrears.
The board is also compelled to increase water supply tariff but no final decision has been taken to introduce a hike, Mr. Ranatunge said.
The NWSDB has planned to increase tariffs for domestic water bills exceeding usage of 15 units.
According to the new plan, consumers using water below 15 units a month won’t be affected by this increase, but if the bill exceeds 15 units, the entire bill would be charged in accordance with the proposed newly increased rates.
“As per the law, water tariffs should be revised every three years. But for the past six years, water tariffs have not been revised considering difficulties faced by the people,” he said. Water tariffs were last revised in 2015.
This increase will not apply to industries, hospitals, schools and other public institutions, he added.
He said the date and amounts of the water tariff revision are yet to be finalised.
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