Recovering dues: Drive against WASA defaulters on cards

Agency says outstanding bills amount to Rs400 million

RAWALPINDI: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has decided to take action against bill defaulters and recover the outstanding dues, which amount to Rs400 million.

The agency says around 10,000 consumers have been defaulting on bills for several years now.



Wasa Managing Director Shoukat Mehmood on Tuesday directed officials to prepare a list of defaulters in two weeks. The agency, Mehmood said, would hire a third party to recover the pending dues.

He said there was a category of consumers who had never paid for the services and water provided by them, adding that there was also need for improving the bill delivery mechanism as the agency, in some cases, could not deliver bills to consumers.

“We are identifying and addressing negligence on part of our staff. We are also trying to convince people to pay the outstanding bills voluntarily,” said the managing director.

He added the public should understand that more revenue will result in improved sanitation services.

Wasa tried to outsource the collection of outstanding amount some three years ago but no party showed interest, he revealed.

WASA spokesperson Muhammad Umar Farooq said the agency conducts a survey every three years to update its record. “This is necessary as some residential buildings are converted into commercial plazas,” he said, adding that there were some ‘chronic defaulters’ who had not paid since the establishment of the agency in the 1990s. The operation, he explained, would be carried out especially against such defaulters.

“We will also try to rectify mistakes on our,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2014.