Survey planned to check water theft

The agency floats EoI to hire firms for the survey

LAHORE: The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) has planned a survey to measure the use of water under various categories, check illegal water connections and work towards tariff rationalisation.

The agency, the second largest of its kind in Pakistan with around 650,000 registered consumers, has floated an expressions of interest (EoI) to hire survey firms for the purpose.

Android technology is proposed to be used to survey domestic, commercial and industrial consumers as well as housing societies. The survey is expected to help enhance the WASA’s revenue by ensuring that consumers are charged accurately for the water they are supplied. It will also help the agency ensure better resource utilisation. The WASA has set a December 15 deadline for the submission of EoIs. Shortlisted firms will be notified within 12 working days. The selected firm will develop an Android-based consumer survey application in consultation with the WASA to hold a pilot survey in two towns identified by the agency. The company will provide 10 monitoring officers, two GIS officers and two GIS monitoring officers to be housed at a WASA office. It will arrange Android-based handsets and a database of field staff for monitoring. Following the pilot phase, a broader survey will be conducted in two packages. Package A will cover Ravi Town, Shalimar Town and Aziz Bhatti Town and Package B will include Data Ganj Bukhsh Town, Allama Iqbal Town and Nishtar Town. WASA Deputy Managing Director Asghar Ali Bhalli said the Punjab Urban Unit had proposed the survey for capacity building at the agency and for better resource utilisation. “The agency has been facing severe resource constraints. The tariff was last revised in 2004,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2015.