DRINKING WATER TARIFF TO REMAIN UNCHANGED IN YEREVAN UNTIL JUNE 2009
Noyan Tapan
Ma y 23, 2008
YEREVAN, MAY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The drinking water tariff will remain
unchanged in Yerevan until June 2009, the RA Public Services Regulatory
Commission decided at the May 23 sitting. At the same time, based on
the commission’s decision, the tariff of 1 cubic meter of water has
been raised by 8.4 drams on condition that its use starts in 2010-2011,
with the raise of 3.6 drams out of the 8.4 drams to be used in 2010,
while the remaining raise of 4.8 drams will be used in 2011. To
recap, in February 2008 Yerevan Water company submitted a bid for
specifying the drinking water tariff to the commission. Based on it,
the company proposed increasing the current tariff of 172.8 drams
(for a cubic meter) by 13.1 drams, fixing it at 185.9 drams. The
company substantiated an increase of the tariff by the decline in
the water consumption by retail users. However, the commission’s
monitoring revealed that 56.7 million c.m. was used in 2006-2007,
which is more by 3,4 million c.m. than the data presented by Yerevan
Water. Fot this reason the commission did not sustain the company’s
bid to the full extent.
The director of Yerevan Water Serge Popoff said that the decline in
consumption is related to the users who did not have water meters,
that is, the total amount of water consumption declined by 3 million
c.m. after the installation of water meters. According to S. Popoff,
although considerable work has been done in two years: 42 illegal
connections have been disconnected and a 18% growth in the water
consumption by users – legal entities has been ensured, he is not
satisfied with the activity of the company over the past two years.
He said that the drinking water network of Yerevan should be divided
into 70 independent networks, which will allow to ensure 22-hour
water supply a day.
This work started two months ago, with 11 such networks to be cretaed
in the city this year. The whole process will finish in 2012.
From: Baghdasarian