President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a three member committee to look into whether the proposed water tariff increase of 30 percent is justifiable or not.

Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem said that water bills were increased four years ago but all overheads have increased during this time.  To clean and supply one cubic meter of water to a household the Board has to bear an expenditure of Rs 48 while a family of five will have to only pay Rs 18 per day on water.

45% of the people have access to pipe borne water while the rest doesn’t.

Our country enjoys the lowest water rates in the region said the minister.

At present the board in running on profit but if we don’t increase the rates we will have to incur a loss.

Meanwhile the board has planned to supply pipe borne water to Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura at a cost of Rs 150 billion.