The Dhaka Wasa CEO made the remarks at a discussion with reporters at WASA Bhaban in Dhaka on Monday
 

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) is planning to set water tariffs on a zonal basis due to the disparity between the average income of slum residents and residents of affluent areas.

Engineer Taqsem A Khan, managing director and CEO of Dhaka Wasa, said: “We have already discussed redesigning the tariff system. We had initially thought of launching a progressive water tariff system, but the plan did not make progress as buildings have a single meter for calculating the bills of all flats. So we could not properly calculate which users were using more. Now we are working to fix zone-wise tariffs as the income level of all flat owners is not the same.

“We are getting technical support from BUET and are planning discussions and seminars in this regard,” he added.

The Dhaka Wasa CEO was speaking at a discussion with reporters at WASA Bhaban in Dhaka on Monday.

According to Dhaka Wasa, around 95% of consumers in slum areas pay bills on time, whereas some members of higher income groups delay the payments for 4-5 months.

Taqsem said, “We have recorded up to a Tk70 lakh leftover in the Gulshan-Banani area.”

Correction of a wrong decision takes 32 years:

The Dhaka Wasa CEO claimed it was the wrong decision to give responsibility of the drainage system of Dhaka to Dhaka Wasa.

The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives issued a circular handing responsibility of water drainage to Dhaka Wasa, instead of the city corporations, on December 6, 1988. Since then, Dhaka Wasa has been liable for the drainage of rain or floodwaters in Dhaka.

However, Taqsem said the responsibility should have been handed over to the city corporations as the municipal authority deals with the issue in all other cities of the country, including Chittagong, Rajshahi and Barisal.

“The city authorities will get total responsibility gradually in order to reduce the coordination gap,” he added.

On December 31, Dhaka Wasa signed a deal with Dhaka South City Corporation and Dhaka North City Corporation on the hand-over of responsibility for the drainage system.