LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to revise water and sanitation tariffs for all WASAs by removing all illegal water connections.
The decision was taken during the second meeting of the Resources Mobilization Committee, chaired by Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht today.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss a business plan to increase the volume of WASAs’ revenue.
It was also decided that the federal government will be requested to assign a social tariff for the water and sanitation associations in Punjab.
The officials were agreed that the burden of water and sanitation charges on lower groups would be reduced and revenue generated by the WASAs would be spent on its required equipment.
The housing and public health engineering secretary told the meeting that the government will provide Rs18.5 billion subsidy to these associations by 2023, adding that WASAs could increase their revenue streams by Rs7.4 billion by implementing on the proposed plan.
“The government will give an Rs7.9 billion subsidy in the next three years, after which WASAs will become self-sufficient,” he said. He said all WASAs would be provided required equipment for sewerage in order to end the public complaints.
Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht approved the proposed business plan of the WASAs and instructed the officials concerned to collect the details of water and electricity connections in Punjab.
He also called for clubbing the revenue collection on solid waste management with WASAs in order to control sewerage issues.
