NSUSC comes under fire for proposed increase in water charges

LG representatives against levying solid waste and drainage taxes on citizens

SUKKUR: The North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC) has earned the ire of elected local bodies' representatives for proposals of increasing water charges and levying taxes for solid waste and drainage on residents. NSUSC was handed over water supply, drainage and sanitation in five cities of upper Sindh — Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Shikarpur and Larkana — in 2011.

Sukkur

Irked by the poor delivery of NSUSC, the chairman of union council (UC) 4, Jinnah Chowk, of Sukkur, Jawed Memon, demanded the government conduct an audit of the funds that have been utilised by the corporation. He said that he is against the proposed increase in the water charges and the imposition of the solid waste and drainage taxes. According to him, NSUSC has failed to provide basic civic facilities. Now, the NSUSC and Sukkur Municipal Corporation (SMC) are jointly planning to increase the water charges to Rs383 per month besides imposing a solid waste tax of Rs194 and a drainage tax of Rs211 per month, he said. "We, the representatives of the citizens, will not allow this increase," said Memon.

Meanwhile, the chairman of UC-11, Dargah Qazi Baba, of Sukkur, Mukhtiar Ahmed Khokhar, also criticised NSUSC’s poor performance. "The water pipelines were laid in 1965 and 1970 and have been damaged. Without replacing the worn-out pipelines, supplying clean water to citizens is a distant dream." He vowed to oppose the proposed water charges increase and taxes.



According to Naseem Hashmi, chairman of UC-12 of Sukkur, increasing the water rate is like rubbing salt in the wounds of the citizens. "When we are not providing them with better civic facilities, how can we charge them exorbitant amounts?" he asked. "We will oppose this proposal at the SMC meeting, which is scheduled on January 17 (Tuesday)." According to him, the residents of Sukkur were getting better civic facilities before NSUSC took over.

The chairman of UC-16 of Sukkur, Mir Mahar, reiterated that the proposals of increasing water charges and imposing taxes will be opposed.

Khairpur

"Though six years have gone by, people still come up with complaints of water shortage and other problems relating to solid waste and drainage," said the chairman of Khairpur district council, Sheheryar Khan Wassan. "In short, the utility has failed to come up to [our] expectations." Asghar Gondal, the chairman of UC Tando Masti of Khairpur, also expressed disappointment over the performance of the NSUSC, saying that nothing has improved during the last six years.

Shikarpur

Agha Israr, the chairman of ward 2 of Shikarpur, said that since the establishment of NSUSC, not a single development scheme has been provided to Shikarpur and Larkana. "The utility has been politicised due to which its performance has worsened," he said. "So far, it has spent funds worth Rs10 billion but nothing has changed."

Larkana

The chairman of UC-15 of Larkana, Advocate Asghar Khichi, lambasted the corporation and said that the entire city has been turned into a garbage dump. "Neither the people nor the elected representatives are satisfied with the performance of NSUSC."

Official version

SMC Mayor Arsalan Shaikh, who is also a member of the NSUSC board of directors, had earlier said that Rs3 billion has been allocated for water filtration plants and the citizens of Sukkur will get potable water by the end of 2018. When asked if it would be a better idea to increase the water charges once the potable water provision begins, he said that they still have to run the company and the Asian Development Bank has been pressuring them to increase service charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2017.