WASA fails to make recoveries from defaulters

The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Rawalpindi has failed to make recoveries from various defaulters including the police department.

The WASA is currently facing a financial crunch due to the non-recovery of outstanding dues.

Sources said that the defaulting institutions were reluctant to pay dues despite repeated warnings. WASA could not decide whether or not to disconnect the water connections of these institutions.

Punjab police owes Rs1.685 million, the health department and Holy Family Hospital Rs700,000, the District Headquarters Hospital Rawalpindi Rs170,000, Rescue 1122 Rs850,000, the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology Rs700,000, the Parks and Particles Authority Rs7.7 million and the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation owes Rs8.4 million.

Interestingly, the WASA has to pay Rs900 million to Islamabad Electric Supply Company under the electricity tariff.

The WASA got tube wells’ electricity connections restored recently after paying Rs300 million but it still has to pay Rs650 million.

The WASA is facing a financial crisis as it has not increased water tariff over the past 15 years despite the rising cost of electricity. Currently, the WASA supplies 51 million gallons of water per day against the need of 60 million gallons and the shortfall of 9 million gallons per day.

WASA supplies 35 million gallons of water daily from its 500 tube wells, the supply from Khanpur Dam is 6 million gallons per day and the water supply from Rawal Dam is 10 million gallons per day.

WASA Managing Director Muhammad Tanveer said that the civic agency has devised a strategy to recover dues from defaulters with a zero-tolerance policy.

"WASA is taking steps to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of water.

However, if the twin cities' water crisis is to be permanently solved, a pipeline from the Ghazi Barotha canal should be laid immediately.

 Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2022.