KARACHI – Patron-in-Chief/Founder President of Bin Qasim Association of Trade and Industry (BQATI) Mian Muhammed Ahmed has requested the officials of Port Qasim Authority (PQA) for a waiver of unjustified water charges, which are being taken from the consumers operating industry in Port Qasim.
A press release issued by the association cited the lack of positive and expressed disappointment at the lack of action on the part of PQA board officials. He stressed that BQATI has made a detailed investigation into the unjustified water charges of Port Qasim Authority, which are more exorbitant than the actual rates of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB).
According to this study, the Sindh Government has increased tariff by nine percent with effect from July 1, 2009 as per Gazette Notification March 01, 2010. Simultaneously, PQA is charging at rates of 37 percent effectively from July 1, 2008, which BQATI asserts are totally baseless and unjustified. The study concluded that there is a large variation according to which PQA rates are even higher than the actual charges of KWSB. Since 1998, PQA is charging Rs 33.80/tonne from users while the KWSB rates are only Rs 16.22/tonne.
Similarly in an adjacent area, Pakistan Steel is charging only Rs 19.77/tonne from the downstream industries, which is a matter of great consideration for PQA being low rate than PQA.
