Aslam Shah
KARACHI: Chronic mismanagement and negligence within the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) and its Revenue Recovery and General Department (RRGD) have pushed outstanding water and sewerage dues past a staggering Rs124 billion. Officials admit that nearly 30 per cent of these arrears – around Rs40 billion – could have been avoided if timely administrative decisions had been taken.
The scale of default spans across Karachi’s 26 towns and seven districts, encompassing federal and provincial departments, military institutions, six industrial zones, and more than 10,000 bulk consumers. According to official records, bulk users alone owe Rs68.7 billion, while 1.25 million domestic users have piled up Rs54.4 billion in unpaid dues.
Alarmingly, 93 per cent of bulk meters are either faulty or non-existent, forcing the Corporation to resort to arbitrary average billing. This has opened the door for widespread collusion between KWSC officials and commercial or industrial consumers.
Instead of expanding the tax net, KWSC has been accused of merely tinkering with the tariff structure. The previous practice of using Net Rental Value (NRV) for commercial entities-including marriage halls, private schools, private hospitals, and similar ventures-has been scrapped. At the same time, the Corporation has introduced a policy of taxing each floor of residential buildings at the same rate, regardless of size or usage.
Experts argue that this ad hoc tinkering reflects a lack of vision. What Karachi urgently needs, they say, is a scientifically designed tariff policy backed by reliable data. A comprehensive property survey, dovetailed with the Excise Department’s records, could provide a sustainable basis for water and sewerage taxation. Yet KWSC management, despite World Bank support, appears reluctant. Progress, critics observe, continues at a snail’s pace, with little appetite for reform.
World Bank Warnings Ignored
The World Bank had earlier recommended streamlining the utility’s operations, suggesting a reduction of departments from 28 to 9. It also stressed the need to merge residential and commercial consumers, mark non-paying areas-including katchi abadis, goth settlements, and water theft hotspots-and introduce digital monitoring systems.
A German consulting firm, hired with World Bank funding, was tasked with conducting a digital survey of Karachi’s water theft and revenue collection gaps. However, citing obstructions from KWSC itself, the firm submitted an incomplete report. Even so, its findings painted a grim picture:
60% of Karachi’s katchi abadis remain unregulated.
Of 574 regularized settlements, 1,436 remain unregularized, while goth settlements have swelled to 5,626, none of which pay a single rupee in water or sewerage tax.
Karachi currently has 12.75 million registered consumers, but nearly 450,000 remain outside the tax net, and only 500,000 households actually pay their dues.
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