KUKL has dues of Rs 1.5 b

The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has unrecovered water tariff amounting to Rs 1.52 billion including Rs 700 million transferred from the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) six years ago.

 KUKL Spokesperson Milan Shakya stated that the due amount could not be recovered though KUKL is suffering an annual loss of Rs 200 million. “We could have searched for new source for water and repaired the damaged pipelines if the due amount were to be recovered,” he said. KUKL has now directed all the branch offices to cut connection to big organizations, offices and influential individuals who have not paid tariff for years in the first stage. KUKL has already prepared a list of customers who have dues starting from Rs 10,883 to hundreds of thousands.  “We will cut connection to those customers who have not cleared the dues despite repeated reminders and only provide water to those who pay tariff regularly,” he added.

The consumers, on the other hand, have been burdened with KUKL not fulfilling any of the commitments made while doubling the tariff eight months ago. The Water Tariff Fixation Commission (WTFC) had put up a nine-point condition while giving approval for tariff hike. Chairman of WTFC Hari Sharma stated that the relevance of raising tariff has finished as KUKL has failed to recover dues and also distribute water. “We will not provide consent for tariff hike the next time if it does not improve as per the condition,” he warned.   

WTFC had consented to raise tariff after KUKL agreed to ensure proportional distribution within six months, control leakage, update distribution schedule on its website, guarantee quality of water distributed from treatment plants and others. Sharma claimed that none of these commitments have been fulfilled and KUKL has yet to respond to four letters sent about the issue. WTFC has also been urging KUKL to update data of the taps that are currently being used and those that are not used. KUKL Spokesperson Shakya, however, claimed that there has been progress in implementation of WTFC’s conditions. He said that the commitments to put the schedule on website and testing of water produced at the treatment plants every month have been fulfilled even though all the conditions have not been fulfilled.

KUKL had proposed to raise tariff by 175 percent in July but WTFC had agreed to raise just 127 percent. WTFC has been claiming that it was forced to raise tariff due to the poor financial condition of KUKL. Water tariff was raised only once (by 10 percent) after 2008.

Secretary at the Ministry of Urban Development Kishore Thapa stated that KUKL is still in infancy and we should not expect much from it. “We will not let KUKL fail as it is the government’s model. We are thinking about how to make KUKL strong,” he revealed. General Manager of KUKL Chandra Lal Nakarmi claimed that reforms have been made in economic, administrative and technical aspects of KUKL. He claimed that KUKL is planning to immediately start distributing water twice a week by improving supply system.

Source: http://www.karobardaily.com/news/2014/02/kukl-has-dues-of-rs-1-5-b

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