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Speaker to notify 60-plus VIP MPs with water bill arrears

02 Sep 2022

  • NWSDB to send list to Speaker, deceased MP owes Rs. 3 mn, to be recovered via Cabinet paper  
BY Dinitha Rathnayake    The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) is to send a list of very important persons (VIPs) comprised of MPs who have run up arrears in their water bills, to Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, following a discussion held with the latter yesterday (1). The NWSDB informed Speaker Abeywardena about the water bill-related arrears of VIPs during the discussion held yesterday. According to the discussion held with the Ministry of Public Administration Secretary, the Board was hoping to obtain the arrears from the VIPs after the discussion with the Speaker. Speaking to The Morning, NWSDB Assistant General Manager Piyal Pathmanatha said that after the discussion with the Speaker, the list would be prepared containing the names of more than 60 VIPs from whom the arrears are to be obtained from, and that the Speaker would inform the said MPs about the matter officially.  “Rs. 13 million has to be obtained from the VIPs and Rs. 5,200 million has to be obtained from 2.6 million domestic users,” Pathmanatha said. A total of Rs. 3 million is also to be obtained from one deceased MP, after the submission of a Cabinet paper in this regard. He also said earlier that the Board is facing a shortage of water meters and pipes at the moment due to the US dollar crisis, but noted however that it is expected to provide 150,000 new connections this year. “We were able to provide 210,000 connections in 2021 and 150,000 before that. We would be able to recover from this situation and therefore, we hope to increase the connections provided yearly. Most customers keep their bills for at least two months and pay them at once, and this, in turn, adds interest to their accounts. Therefore, we urge them to pay the bill within 14 days so that they are eligible for a discount.” A large number of consumers, including households, commercial enterprises, Government agencies, and schools owe the NWSDB nearly Rs. 7,500 million as of April, 2022. This was revealed during the progress review meeting of the Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage Chaired by the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the President’s House, Colombo. Pathmanatha said that the Covid-19 pandemic was the main reason for the outstanding bills, noting however that the NWSDB has already commenced disconnecting connections with such arrears. The NWSDB also expects to increase its rates in the future, with Pathmanatha adding that the request to do so had been made back in 2016.


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