Vice Chairman Water and Sanitation Authority (Wasa) Imtiaz Mehmood has said that cut in industrial water tariff is under consideration. The ground water levels in Lahore are dropping by the ratio of 1 meter per annum and city is under a great danger of water scarcity. The business community of Lahore, common people should start taking this threat serious and stop misusing precious drinking water resources.
He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). President LCCI Mian Tariq Misbah, Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan and Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry, Managing Director WASA Zahid Aziz, Exuctive Body members LCCI Mardan Ali Zaidi, Shahid Nazir, Malik Riaz iqbal and MIan Maqbool Siddiqui were also present on the occasion.
The Vice Chairman WASA said tariff difference in different cities of Punjab is due to the water quality, water quality in Faisalabad is not as good as it is in Lahore, adding this is the reason of high tariffs of water in Lahore.
He said to facilitate the business community and traders, Wasa is preparing to set up a Help Desk at LCCI, adding the lack of information creates harassment and this desk will improve the coordination between LCCI and Wasa and will also prove useful for resolving the issues of Business Community.
Imtiaz Mehmood said that Wasa in collaboration with market committees, will identify and work for the desilting of the sewage systems. He also urged the market association to start an awareness campaign among the traders to avoid throwing solid waste into gutters to avoid early blockage of the sewage system.
He said the industry which was not operation during pandemic lockdown should provide its electricity bill to confirm its closure so that the Wasa wave off their water bills.
Speaking about the tariff issues, the Wasa VC assured that if the industry is using non-drinking water, Wasa is ready to revise their water tariff and is also ready to make installments of bills.
LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah said that Wasa has matchlessly increased water tariff for industrial and commercial users. Wasa has fixed Rs100,000 per month and Rs50,000 per month respectively for extracting ground water through tube-well of 1 cusec and ½ cusec for industrial and commercial consumer in Lahore.
He said this tariff is extremely high as compared to other cities of Punjab like Faisalabad and Multan etc. LCCI recommends that the water tariff across all cities should be uniformed.
LCCI SVP Nasir Hameed Khan said that sewerage system of Lahore especially in the old markets of Lahore where sewerage pipelines are either damaged or dysfunctional. In most of the cases, the pipelines of water are getting merged with sewerage system.
LCCI VP Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry said that “We support the new water management plan of WASA in a bid to save groundwater for future.
