Courtesy: The Hindu

ADB-funded work almost complete; repayment to begin soon 

• Amount to be repaid a year will be Rs. 32.25 crores
• It has to be met from the revenue of the corporation
• New rate will affect households the most

Mangalore, Jan 20: With the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded infrastructure development work coming to an end particularly in the water distribution segment, water tariff will undergo a major revamp, said former Mayor K. Diwakar.

The Mangalore City Corporation had taken up the overall infrastructure development programme under funding from ADB at a cost of Rs. 309 crores. Of this, Rs. 107 crores was earmarked for water distribution envisaging laying of 800 km water pipeline in the city. The pipeline work is almost complete and it is time to start repaying the ADB with interest, which will be Rs. 32.25 crores per year (total budget of the MCC was Rs. 75.18 crores in 2005).

The ADB provided 66 per cent of the project cost, and the balance was met with grant from the State Government. The recovery to the loan component must be met from the revenue of the Mangalore City Corporation. Consequent to debt servicing, the costs of all services will go up in the City Corporation.

First casualty

The water costs, which is the first casualty, will undergo a major revamp, Mr. Diwakar said. Quoting a report on the overall cost of the project, Mr. Diwakar said the project was finalised after the ADB approved the Technical Analysis Report (TAR) prepared by NEDECO from the Netherlands in 1998. They have gone on record that the cost of pipeline network, operations and maintenance costs and other overheads will have to be met from the revenue collected from water distribution, irrespective of the availability of water. That means every citizen of Mangalore may have to pay the line charges to the City Corporation even if he does not get water, Mr. Diwakar said.

A typical domestic water consumer uses a total of 10,000 to 15,000 litres a month (a family of four). According to the statistics available in the City Corporation, over 60 per cent of the 75,000 connections get about 135 litres per day per person (which is in accordance with the WHO recommendations for a healthy life).

The rate charged by the MCC now is Rs. 1.40 per 1,000 litres. The MCC has not increased the rates from 0-10,000 litres and the next three slabs up to 25,000 litres, which is Rs.1.80 per 1000 litres. But according to the recommended increase in water prices, the first slab itself will be Rs. 8.10 per 1,000 litres. If an average family uses 15,000 litres a month, the water charges will be approximately Rs. 100 a month. In the subsequent slabs, the rates will increase progressively reaching Rs. 16.20 per 1,000 litres for consumers using over 1,00,000 litres (generally for commercial purposes)

Monthly bill

Under the new rate, the most hit will be the households (middle class) using 15,000 to 25,000 litres. They will have to shell out Rs. 12.20 per every 1,000 litres. Their monthly bill will be to the extent of Rs. 305 assuming they use up to 25,000 litres. If the new charges come into force, the consumer using 10,000 litres will have to pay up to Rs. 130 as against the present Rs. 45 and those using 25,000 litres will pay up Rs.389 against Rs. 45. The high-end users will pay Rs. 2,300 per 1,00,000 litres against Rs. 353 at present, he said.