Kathmandu: Consumers on Friday protested against the proposal to hike water tariff, even as Water Tariff Fixation Commission (WTFC) said it was studying the proposal. They were speaking at an interaction held in the capital to discuss the proposal. Handing over its proposal to the commission a month ago, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), the private-public partnership responsible for the distribution of piped water in Kathmandu Valley, had demanded that the commission give the go-ahead to its plan to hike water tariff by 10 to 30 percent.

The head of WTFC, B.K. Man Singh, said at the interaction that the commission was analyzing the proposal. After receiving the KUKL proposal, the tariff fixation commission had told the public to comment on the proposal within a week. As consumers put lip strong resistance, maintaining that a week was not enough to comment on the proposal and air their grievances, the tariff fixation commission had extended the time to comment on the proposal.
“Before making any decision on the tariff hike, we will thoroughly study the proposal,” said WTFC chairperson Singh. "We are analysing thee proposal and, at the same time, seeking opinions from the public.” “KUKL has not yet provided information on salaries, pensions and allowances given to its staff, saying these are internal matters of the firm. Though we wrote to them several times, KUKL has not enlightened us as to its plan of action,” said Singh. “We will not take any decision on tariff hike unless we study all these aspects comprehensively.”

The utility has proposed 10 percent hike in water tariff for those, who consume 10,000 litres of water per month, adding that those who consume more than this volume shall pay 30 percent more. An official of KUKL said tariff hike was proposed as per the recommendation of Asian Development bank, the main donor for the Melamchi Water Supply project. He said there was an urgent need to hike water tariff as KUKL faced loss of Rs. 106 million by the end of fiscal year 2008/2009.
Admitting that KUKL has not been able to meet valley denizens’ water requirement, Deputy General Manager of KUKL, Gyanesh Bajracharya, said, “KUKL cannot meet the water requirement unless there is some more investment.” He added that collection of water has decreased currently as sources have dried up. On top of this, the distribution of water has gone down by 50 percent due to prolonged load-shedding hours. According to KUKL, before enforcement of the 12-hour-day load-shedding regime, it had been supplying 120 litres of water in the valley per day against a daily requirement of over 230 million litres.

Source: The Kathmandu Post; Nepal Samacharpatra; Gorkhapatra, January 3, 2009