HAIL, 24 July 2003 — The Ministry of Water and Electricity will give violation notices to citizens who are wasting water, Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, minister of water and electricity, told Eqtisadiah, a sister publication of Arab News, yesterday.
“The current water and sewage services are not sufficient. One third of houses are not connected to the water mains and 75 percent of houses are not connected to the sewage system,” he said while inspecting a project in Hail.
Al-Gosaibi said that he did not know of anyone who did not resort to water trucks to cover the shortage, nor of anyone who did not occasionally call in sewage trucks. He said the ministry was implementing a national plan for water to cover the entire Kingdom. He said that the current water price was very low, subsidized heavily in favor of the consumer, who only pays about 10 percent of the production cost.
“I think citizens would be willing to pay if they know the price we charge benefits them and allows them to stop relying on water trucks, which can be expensive.” Reliance on water trucks is sometimes forced on consumers because of low mains pressure or lack of supply for those connected to mains.
If water charges are introduced, it is unclear if they will be pitched at a level where private water production and distribution companies will be attracted to the market, invest in the infrastructure and bear the cost of running the system.
