PESHAWAR:The Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) has intensified its campaign for the regularisation of illegal connections and collection of water dues to strengthen its financial self-sustainability and ultimately alleviating the burden on government funds.
Special teams have been formed on directives from Chief Executive Officer Dr. Hassan Nasir in all five zones for rigorous regulation and recovery efforts.
To facilitate consumers, facilitation centers have been established in zonal offices and relevant union councils.
The centers will register connections installment-based collection of outstanding dues along with current bills.
The decision to expedite the campaign was made during a meeting chaired by Dr. Nasir. Among the participants were General Manager Operations Engineer Tarab Shah, Zonal Managers including Aamir Gul Khattak, Maria Shahbaz, Basit Khattak, Farman Ali, and Anwarul Haq, along with Water Supply and Water Rate Staff Managers.
The meeting reviewed the progress of the regularization and recovery of illegal connections and directed zonal offices to expedite the campaign. Emphasis was placed on areas with remarkably low recovery rates, which include recovery as low as 35 percent.
An awareness campaign is also being underway alongside the regularization efforts, focusing on encouraging consumers to register their connections and make timely payments for water bills.
Elected representatives are also participating in the campaign to convince people to register their connections.
The WSSP is providing water to consumers at highly subsidized rates. Households are charged a monthly fee of Rs180 per connection. Water bills are sent out every two months. Despite these minimal charges, WSSP is currently generating revenue of around Rs10 million, significantly lower than the expenditures.
Currently, WSSP has registered 87,000 connections. Previously, the monthly bill per connection was 440 Rupees. Following a review by the provincial government, water rates were adjusted, resulting in reduced monthly bills. Despite the decrease in monthly bills and revenue, WSSP has implemented improved systems, including a metered system on several tube wells, to reduce electricity costs for pumping water.
In the first phase, the campaign is focused on areas including Sarbiland Pora, Pahari Pora, Kambu Adda, Mustafa Colony, Islamabad Town, Sardar Colony, Wazir Colony, Qazi Kalay, Khalid bin Waleed Colony, Jehangir Chowk, Laldin Colony, Patang Chowk, Latifabad, Charsadda Road, Ring Road, Anisabad, Yousaf Abad, Sardar Ahmad Jan Colony, Khan Colony, Hassan Town, Muzaffar Street, Afghan Colony, Shinwari Town, Iqbal Colony, Dir Town, Dinbahar, Ittehad Colony and Corporation Colony.