Wasa works: Punjab’s poor cousin eyes its sanitation model

KARACHI:

Hyderabad's Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) envies its counterparts in the Punjab. One of its officials, Syed Mohsin, explained why.

On Tuesday, he was sharing Hyderabad's sad story at a workshop to discuss and improve on a draft of Sindh's sanitation policy that is being prepared by the Urban Policy & Strategic Planning department. "Punjab's Wasas recover what they recover [in terms of bills from consumers]," he said. "But the Government of Punjab subsidises them." Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, you name the city, and they get a 40% share of the urban renewal property tax, which helps them run their utility. "Hyderabad's Wasa last received its subsidy in 1992!" Its water tariff or pricing was last revised in 2010. The only good news is that Hyderabad's Wasa does what is probably the best job of getting its residents to pay their bills: 40% collection. "But it isn't enough to pay for our expenses," he added. "We can't pay our salaries let alone maintenance."

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2014.