Noida CEO asks water department to increase revenue

The authority will make sure that all government offices, hospitals and nursing homes pay their water bills properly and on time

The Noida authority’s chief executive officer Alok Tandon on Tuesday said that he has directed the chief engineer of the water department to prepare a report as to why there are only 70,000 water connections as the lack of more connections is resulting in poor revenue for the water department.

At present, the Noida authority mops up only ₹50 crore in annual revenue from 70,000 water connections, said officials. It spends significantly more, ₹150 crore to be precise, on maintenance of its water supply services. (Sunil Ghosh/HT PHOTO)

The authority has decided to ensure that all central and state government offices, including private hospitals, nursing homes, shopping malls, hotels and other establishments pay water bills properly.

At present, the Noida authority mops up only ₹50 crore in annual revenue from 70,000 water connections, said officials. It spends significantly more, ₹150 crore to be precise, on maintenance of its water supply services. The authority is struggling to bridge the ₹100 crore revenue gap. Officials said that they fear that if this situation continues, it will be difficult for the authority to run its water supply services and maintain quality if the department does not become self sustainable.

“I have directed the chief engineer to investigate as to why there are only 70,000 water connections for the last so many years. And why hasn’t there been an increase in the number of water connections across the city. When there are new houses coming up and we are selling additional floor area ratio (FAR) to housing buildings and residential plots then there should be an increase in the number of water supply connections. The chief engineer has been directed to submit his reply within a week,” Tandon said.

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The increase in FAR means that the authority has allowed an increase in the height of a residential building and it has been allowed to cover more area. It means a builder or individual plot owner can construct more floors and build more housing units.

“If we have allowed more floors to come up for an individual residential plot and also allowed increase in the height of residential towers, then we should record a bump in revenue as well. The water department will look into it and submit its reply. We will decide the next course of action accordingly. We want to increase our revenue collection,” Tandon said.

The authority draws water from the Upper Ganga Canal and also extracts groundwater to meet the city’s drinking water needs.