Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) is going to hike the water tariff by 5% for all users from July in the capital. The same hike will be enforced by Chittagong Wasa.
Households will need to pay Tk11.02 instead of the existing Tk10.50 for each 1,000L water the commercial users will need to pay Tk35.28 instead of the existing Tk33.60 after the new price comes into effect in July 2018, according to the tariff rates announced in an advertisement published in daily newspapers on May 9.
Officials said the hike was made as per section 22 of Wasa Act 1996 that allows the authority to increase the tariff by 5% annually.
Dhaka Wasa officials said the production of water in Dhaka is 245 million litres daily while the demand is in between 230 to 235 million litres.
Commercial customers of Dhaka Wasa need about 7% of it. Dhaka Wasa spends around Tk17 to produce 1,000L water. The sale is subsidized by Tk6.30 per unit.
Taqsem A Khan, managing director of Dhaka Wasa, said the increased price is not a hike but a price adjustment made annually.
"Every year in July, we adjust water tariff by raising it 5%. It is based on the inflation rate. As per the law,” he added.
The Wasa MD said: “The electricity price increase is affecting us. A large part of our expenditure goes to electricity costs. The price of electricity has increased a lot in recent times. In fact we have not raised the price of water proportionately.”
