DUSHANBE, March 29, Asia-Plus — The Dushanbe Vodokanal (DVK or Dushanbe’s municipal waterworks) has applied to the Anti-Monopoly Committee with regard to the issue of raising the drinking water rates, Asia-Plus has learned from Akbar Khojayev, head the Anti-Monopoly Committee’s department for Dushanbe.
He says the Dushanbe municipal waterworks intends to raise the water rates four times (if at present consumers pay 0.11 Somoni for one cubic meter of water and according to the DVK specialists’ preliminary estimates, the price of one cubic meter of water in Dushanbe should rise to 0.5 Somoni).
“The Anti-Monopoly Committee is currently studying these proposals and materials,” Mr. Khojayev said, noting that experts are analyzing economic validity of the proposed rates. “The proposed rates should be economically well-grounded and fair towards both producer of services and consumer, in order that consumer could be able to pay for the services,” said head the Anti-Monopoly Committee’s department for Dushanbe, “We will prepare our resolution on this subject soon.”
According to the source, the DVK leadership has justified its decision to raise the water rates by saying that they need to renew their main resources – purchase of necessary equipment for improving quality of drinking water and purchase of necessary chemicals to provide safety of the drinking water.
“It is still difficult to say when and how much the water rates will rise,” said Akbar Khojayev, “We are just studying this issue.”
In the meantime, according to information from the Dushanbe municipal waterworks, a total debt of consumers for water to the Dushanbe Vodokanal has amounted to more than 13.48 million Somonis as of March 1 2006. Of this amount, more than 4 million Somonis are the public debt and the remaining debtors are the Dushanbe organizations funded from the budget and the commercial organizations.
The DVK source says they continue cutting off supply of water to the most incorrigible nonpayers.
“For example, we have cut off supply of water to the Dushanbe airport, which had a debt of more than 95,500 Somonis for water,” the source said, noting that the airport has to date repaid 30,000 Somonis of its debt.
