Will the water board go the Transco way?

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, MAY 30. Should the domestic water tariff be increased or not? That's the dilemma the HMWSSB is facing. For the last couple of years, its Managing Director, Mr. L.V. Subrahmanyam, has been sounding about the need to hike it, at least, marginally. But, it never came through.

With the power tariff hike, the third in the last three years, the burden on the Board has only increased. "There is a case for increasing water rates but..." trails Mr. Subrahmanyam.

He points out that one litre of water supplied by it does not even cost one paisa. Moreover, its monthly power bill of Rs. 4 crores now will increase by 15 per cent.

Fortyeight per cent of HMWSSB's expenditure is on power and though it has sought a "special category" status from the A.P. Transco, because of it being a public utility service, nothing came about. Talks are being held with the World Bank for taking up an energy audit which will help in utilising power more efficiently. A professional consultant will be appointed within a month to take this up on a large scale.

Explaining about the financial situation of the Board, he said this year they were likely to end up with a deficit of Rs. 30 lakhs. Mr. Subrahmanyam said the position appeared healthy as the Government had converted its first World Bank loan plus interest of Rs. 290-odd crores into equity.

Forty per cent of its water connections does not earn any revenue to it and there are estimated to be 60,000 illegal connections. Its distribution and other losses are put at 40 per cent and this "can be brought down to 20 per cent if an investment of Rs. 450 crores is made," says Mr. Subrahmanyam.

A private engineering consultancy has estimated a loss of 120 litres per hour per connection in the twin cities. And, this can be checked only by replacing old pipelines, installing bulk, flow meters and so on. But, that means more money.

While the Board is yet to make up its mind on surcharging the domestic consumer, a decision on increasing the fee for the industrial consumers from the present Rs. 15 per kilolitre is definitely on cards as it is reported to be the lowest when compared to cities like Bangalore, Mumbai or Chennai.

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Section  : Southern States
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