72102 Bang l adesh Wa t er Utiliti es Da t a Book, 2006 – 07 Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery A partnership between the Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and Water and Sanitation Program–South Asia The Water and Sanitation Program June 2009 is an international partnership for improving water and sanitation sector policies, practices, and capacities to serve poor people Report ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The Local Government Division (LGD) of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, as well as the Water and Sanitation Program–South Asia, wish to thank the following water utilities for their cooperation in providing the information that made the publication of this Data Book possible. City/Town Utility Dhaka Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Chittagong Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Rajshahi Rajshahi City Corporation Bagerhat Bagerhat Pourashava Chandpur Chandpur Pourashava Chapai Nawabganj Chapai Nawabganj Pourashava Chuadanga Chuadanga Pourashava Gazipur Gazipur Pourashava Jessore Jessore Pourashava Manikganj Manikganj Pourashava Narsingdi Narsingdi Pourashava Funding for the project and for the preparation of the Data Book was provided by the Water and Sanitation Program–South Asia (WSP–SA). However, the views and analyses expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, the Department of Public Health Engineering, and WSP–SA. The Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book was prepared by the WSP–SA Benchmarking Project Team in Bangladesh headed by Abdul Motaleb (Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist), and supported by Zakir Hossain (Local Consultant) and Cesar E. Yñiguez (Benchmarking Adviser). Suggestions and comments made by peer reviewers have been incorporated in the Data Book. It is expected that the Data Book will be updated every year, with special documentation in the third year. DISCLAIMER: Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) reports are published to communicate the results of WSP’s work to the development community. Some sources cited may be informal documents that are not readily available. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are entirely those of the author and should not be attributed to the World Bank or its affiliated organizations, or to members of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the World Bank Group concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The material in this publication is copyrighted. Requests for permission to reproduce portions of it should be sent to wsp@worldbank.org. WSP encourages the dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission promptly. Bang l adesh Wa t er Utiliti es Da t a Book, 2006 – 07 Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery A partnership between the Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and Water and Sanitation Program–South Asia Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations 4 Customer Service Foreword 5 Water Coverage 32 Introduction: Benchmarking Urban Water Services 7 Water Availability 32 Key Indicators, Definitions, and Methodology 8 Monthly Bill per Connection 33 Water Quality Sampling 33 PART I Complaints Received 34 Pipe Breaks Repaired 34 Summary of Findings 11 Summary of Results for 11 Water Utilities 12 Management Utility-wise Analyses and Comments 13 Operating Ratio 35 Comments and Analyses Based on Indicators 17 Accounts Receivable 35 Overall Performance of Water Utilities 20 Revenue Collection Efficiency 36 Conclusions 23 Staff per 1,000 Connections 36 Tariffs and Costs PART II Average Tariff 37 Utilities’ Comparisons 25 Unit Production Cost 37 (Figures and Tables) Connection Fee for Residential Connection 38 Institutions Annual Operation and Maintenance Costs 38 Operation and Maintenance Cost Components 39 Names and Locations of Utilities 26 Size of Utilities 27 PART III Types of Water Utilities 28 Water Utility and Area Profiles 41 Production and Consumption Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority 42 Production Volume 28 Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority 44 Water Use 29 Rajshahi City Corporation 46 Per Capita Consumption 29 Bagerhat Pourashava 48 Monthly Consumption per Connection 30 Chandpur Pourashava 50 Unaccounted-for Water 30 Chapai Nawabganj Pourashava 52 Nonrevenue Water 31 Chuadanga Pourashava 54 Consumer Metering 31 Gazipur Pourashava 56 Jessore Pourashava 58 Manikganj Pourashava 60 Narsingdi Pourashava 62 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Tables Figures 1 Summary of Results for 11 Water Utilities 12 1 Types of Water Utilities 28 2 Comparison of Overall Performance 20 2 Production Volume 28 3 Names and Locations of Utilities 26 3 Water Use 29 4 Size of Utilities 27 4 Per Capita Consumption 29 5 Monthly Consumption per Connection 30 6 Unaccounted-for Water 30 7 Nonrevenue Water 31 8 Consumer Metering 31 9 Water Coverage 32 10 Water Availability 32 11 Monthly Bill per Connection 33 12 Water Quality Sampling 33 13 Complaints Received 34 14 Pipe Breaks Repaired 34 15 Operating Ratio 35 16 Accounts Receivable 35 17 Revenue Collection Efficiency 36 18 Staff per 1,000 Connections 36 19 Average Tariff 37 20 Unit Production Cost 37 21 Connection Fee for Residential Connection 38 22 Annual Operation and Maintenance Costs 38 23 Operation and Maintenance Cost Components 39 Acronyms and Abbreviations BM&PIP Benchmarking and Performance Improvement Programming BMDF Bangladesh Municipal Development Fund CWASA Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority DPHE Department of Public Health Engineering DWASA Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority IB-Net International Benchmarking Network LGD Local Government Division LGI Local Government Institution MoLGRD&C Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives NRW Nonrevenue Water O&M Operation and Maintenance Pourashava Translates as ‘municipality’ PWP Public Water Point RCC Rajshahi City Corporation Tk. Bangladeshi Taka1 UFW Unaccounted-for Water WASA Water Supply and Sewerage Authority WSP-SA Water and Sanitation Program–South Asia Measurement Units and Symbols km kilometer km2 square kilometer lpcd or l/c/d liter per capita per day m meter m3 cubic meter m3/d cubic meter per day m3/d/c cubic meter per day per capita 1 Tk. is Bangladeshi Taka. US$1 = BDT 68.83 (as of May 28, 2009). Conversion rates are from http://coinmill.com; all conversions in the text are approximations. 4 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Foreword Bangladesh’s urban water utilities are facing a massive challenge in providing safe water supply and sanitation services to the sharply increasing population in the towns. To meet future demand for water supply and sanitation services with reliable and safe water supply system, the management capacity of the urban utilities should continue to improve. One of the effective and recognized tools for performance monitoring and formulating performance improvement programs is benchmarking. The Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, took the initiative of introducing Benchmarking and Performance Improvement Programming (BM&PIP) in 11 urban utilities in 2005-06, with support from Water and Sanitation Program, and International Benchmarking Network (IB-Net). This Water Utilities Data Book is the first published compilation of the service delivery status for 2006-07 in the 11 participating utilities. It describes performance levels against key indicators of service delivery, and the comparative positions and profiles of each utility based on analysis using the IB-Net tool. The utilities are now in a position to measure their own performance level, compare this with their peers and against an international standard, identify the gaps, and plan to improve their performance accordingly. The benchmarking initiative demonstrates the commitment of the Government of Bangladesh to measure quality of service for ensuring safe water provision to the consumer in the towns, in addition to monitoring the physical and financial progress of the utilities under different projects. This is also an important tool for local governments to support urban utilities to assess and enhance their service delivery and overall performance. We trust that this initiative will continue to expand to other urban water utilities in Bangladesh in the near future. We look forward to the ongoing commitment of the local government institutions (city corporations, pourashavas) and the Water and Sanitation Program to assist the government in institutionalizing the benchmarking initiative. Md. Shahjahan Ali Mollah Joint Secretary (Water Supply), Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and Managing Director, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority 5 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Introduction: Benchmarking Urban Water Services Context Sewerage Authority (CWASA) covers performance of water utilities in 34 percent, and Rajshahi City perspective, as well as depict trends, With over 146 million people in an area Corporation covers 84 percent. Only slippages, and progress. International of 147,570 km2, Bangladesh is one of 102 pourashavas have intermittent Benchmarking Network (IB-Net) tools the most densely populated countries piped water supply that serves very highlight the relevance of benchmarking in the world. The overall population limited households. The average to sound governance and performance growth rate is about 1.5 percent. coverage by piped water supply in the improvement planning. However, the influx of population in pourashavas is only 39 percent; the urban areas has taken the growth rate remaining 32 percent is served by The Government of Bangladesh has over 3.5 percent, on average, whereas hand tubewells. At present, urban undertaken the initiative of introducing the growth rate of urban migration in populations, especially poor people, Benchmarking and Performance metropolitan cities is about 5 percent. are the most vulnerable if water Improvement Programming (BM&PIP) Dhaka is the capital and the largest supply and sanitation services are tools, along with sector stakeholders. metropolitan city of the country, with inadequate. Large numbers of future These include the Department of Public more than 12 million people. The next urban populations will thus require Health Engineering, DWASA, CWASA, largest city is the port city of Chittagong, a reliable and safe piped water selected city corporations and with more than 3.5 million people. supply system. pourashavas, Bangladesh Municipal Development Fund, and the Local Urban areas in Bangladesh can be The lack of effective management Government Division (LGD) of the divided into three tiers: Dhaka and capacity has been identified by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Chittagong city that have populations of Government of Bangladesh and other Development and Cooperatives. The many millions; four city corporations stakeholders as a major reason why Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book with populations of between 0.3 to 1.5 urban utilities are not performing well. million; and 309 urban municipalities Benchmarking is recognized as an presents the result of an update of the with populations of 0.05 to 0.3 million. effective tool to monitor performance benchmarking database, a compilation The total urban population, estimated and formulate performance of information related to the to be about 25 million, is expected to improvement programs. performance of 11 water utilities2 for be 50 million by the end of 2015. 2006–07. It builds on the experience of The Water and Sanitation Program– participating utilities and the project Local government institutions (LGIs), South Asia (WSP–SA) has launched a team under the benchmarking that is, the city corporations and benchmarking and performance program. The data presented in the pourashavas, are legally responsible for improvement initiative in Bangladesh, Data Book were used in the National water supply and sanitation to the India, and Pakistan for institutionalizing Dissemination Workshop (held in Dhaka people, including poor people, within the performance improvement of urban on May 21–22, 2008) to present the the municipality area except Dhaka, water supplies with limited resources. findings and analyses of the Chittagong, and Khulna cities. Selected urban water utilities in performance of the participating utilities. The Water Supply and Sewerage Bangladesh were introduced to the Authority (WASA) has been set up in benchmarking and performance Aim of the Data Book these city corporations. improvement program in 2005–06, The same set of data was used by the under the ‘Bangladesh Benchmarking While Dhaka Water Supply and utilities in preparing the performance and Performance Improvement for Sewerage Authority (DWASA) covers Urban Water Utilities’ project, facilitated 83 percent of the population, by WSP–SA. Multiyear benchmarking 2 The 11 water utilities are Bagerhat, Chandpur, Chapai Nawabganj, Chittagong, Chuadanga, Dhaka, Gazipur, Jessore, Chittagong Water Supply and data may be used for getting the Manikganj, Narsingdi, and Rajshahi. 7 improvement plans that they presented indicators and analysis of the team. Hence, LGD and WSP–SA are at the workshop. The Data Book performance of water utilities in 11 conscious that not all data are 100 presents information in a user-friendly cities and municipalities in Bangladesh. percent reliable. In some instances, manner. Part I presents the summary of The information contained in this book estimates were given in the absence of findings with comments and analysis by is based on the collection of 2006–07 available measures, such as in cases indicators and by water utility. The data from each participating water where no total metering of production performances of Bangladesh’s utilities utility. Data were collected using the and consumption is available. This are compared with utilities’ questionnaire developed by the IB-Net makes unaccounted-for water or daily performance in India, the Philippines, for the World Bank. However, this is the per capita consumption data estimates and South-East Asia. The analyses of first time that the IB-Net tools have at best. If there are doubts on the the utilities’ performance by indicators been introduced in Bangladesh. reliability of some data presented, the are based on the comparison tables reader is advised to verify the and charts in Part II. The analyses of The water utilities that provided data information from the water utility whose performance by utility are based on the include two WASAs, one city contact details are provided in its information provided in the utility and corporation, and eight pourashavas. utility profile. area profiles for each city or For the purpose of presentation and The information presented in this book municipality covered by the utility discussion, the name of the city or was either taken from the water utility that are presented in Part III of the municipality served by the utility is used questionnaire or was based on Data Book. instead of the utility name: for example, computations using data from the Dhaka instead of Dhaka Water Supply questionnaire. The definitions in terms Providing, as far as possible, accurate and Sewerage Authority; Gazipur of formulas used for the computations information on the performance of instead of Gazipur Pourashava; are shown below. water utilities is just the first step in and Rajshahi instead of Rajshahi improving such performance. This G Water supply coverage (%) = City Corporation. Performance information helps in defining the [population served with water indicators were derived using basic problems and challenges confronting supply] x 100 / [total population in data provided by the water utilities and each utility, which could be unique, the area of responsibility] following various computations using based on its operating environment. the formulas given below. Almost all the G Per capita consumption (lpcd) = We hope that this Data Book will data used in comparing the indicators [total annual volume of water sold contribute in understanding the in the tables, graphs, charts, and (m3) x 1,000/365] / [number of challenges better, and in helping figures are found in each utility and area people served] stakeholders define the best ways of profile. Exact values can, hence, meeting them. This Data Book may G Production/population (m3/day/c) = be extracted. also be used by all other water utilities [annual production volume (m3) / in Bangladesh for addressing Clarifications were sought on the data 365] / [number of people served] similar challenges and improving provided especially for consistency G Unaccounted-for water (%) = [total respective performances. between the data and indicators so annual production (m3) - total annual that the data finally presented are the Key Indicators, Definitions, consumption (m3)] x 100 / [total best that could be obtained under the and Methodology annual production (m3)] circumstances. These clarifications The Bangladesh Water Utilities Data were done during the visit to each of G Nonrevenue water (%) = [total Book presents the performance the utilities by members of the project annual production (m3) - total billed 8 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery consumption (m3)] x 100 / [total collections for the one-year period member of the Benchmarking Project annual production (m3)] included payment of bills for the Team, the utilities collected data with previous period. Most of the utilities best estimates. G Average tariff (Tk./m3) = [total annual have no meter for measuring annual Thus, in some utilities, unaccounted-for billing (Tk.)] / [total annual production at source and annual water and nonrevenue water appear as consumption (m3)] consumption or billing at the low as, for example, 2.7 percent in distribution ends. However, as a Chuadanga Pourashava. G Unit production cost (Tk./m3) = [annual O&M cost (Tk.)] / [total annual production (m3)] Map of Bangladesh G Operating ratio = [annual O&M cost (Tk.)] / [annual revenue (Tk.)] Blue squares denote the utility’s location. G Accounts receivable equivalent (months) = [accounts receivable (Tk.) at end of the fiscal year] / [total annual billings (Tk.)/12] G Revenue collection efficiency (%) = [total annual revenue (Tk.)] / [total annual billings (Tk.)] x 100 G Staff/1,000 water connections ratio = [number of utility staff] / [number of utility connections/1,000] G Ratio of industrial to residential tariff = [total billing of commercial and industrial users (Tk.) / total volume sold to commercial and industrial users (m3)] / [total billing of residential users (Tk.) / total volume sold to residential users (m3)] G Residential fixed component of tariff = [fixed residential charge/month (Tk.)*12*number of utility connections] / [total annual revenue (Tk.)] Some utilities may have collection efficiency higher than 100 percent, Bay of Bengal which may indicate that the total 9 PART 1 Summary of Findings Table 1: Summary of Results for 11 Water Utilities Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Bagerhat Chandpur Chapai Chuadanga Gazipur Jessore Manikganj Narsingdi Average (11) Nawabganj Water 83.3 34.2 84.5 42.2 72.0 36.1 68.3 14.8 68.0 36.2 70.3 55.4 coverage(%) Water availability 23 8 12 2 20 11 7 10 9 20 7 11.7 (hours) Consumption/ 90.4 69.7 88.2 61.5 55.3 33.5 86.7 33.9 72.3 263.5 113.2 88.0 capita/day (lpcd) Production/capita/ 0.159 0.130 0.132 0.084 0.067 0.054 0.093 0.075 0.107 0.326 0.168 0.127 day (m3/day/c) Unaccounted-for 37.2 33.3 25.5 3.3 16.3 15.9 2.7 52.0 28.2 7.2 25.4 22.5 water (%) NRW (%) 48.6 33.3 25.5 3.3 18.2 21.6 3.4 53 30.5 7.2 28.3 24.8 Connections 70 86 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 38 0 18 metered (%) Unit production 4.05 4.41 1.12 4.01 5.33 0.99 2.4 1.5 3.59 2.43 3.83 3.06 cost (Tk./m3) Operating ratio 0.78 0.96 0.71 0.85 1.53 0.42 0.53 0.63 1.00 0.94 1.43 0.89 Accounts receivable 13.1 12.5 6.9 4.0 15.8 2.8 3.1 11.9 8.6 8.4 55.6 13.0 (months) Revenue collection 108 108 60 85 100 100 75 99 100 59 190 98 efficiency (%) Average tariff 6.43 6.89 2.11 4.89 4.17 2.76 4.62 4.91 5.00 2.80 3.59 4.38 (Tk./m3) New connection 2,118 5,350 2,000 1,205 2,500 515 800 1,000 500 300 500 1,526 fee (Tk.) Staff/1,000 11.9 14.8 8.7 10.4 10.2 8.0 7.0 5.3 8.2 9.7 8.4 9.3 connections (ratio) 12 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Utility-Wise Analyses and Comments Dhaka Water Supply and months is too much. Average tariff of has the lowest water availability of only Sewerage Authority (DWASA) Tk. 6.89/m3 is the highest yet it is barely two hours per day among the surveyed enough to cover operating expenses utilities. It provides water to only 42.2 DWASA provides water at 90 lpcd to percent of the total population in its due to high water losses and low its consumers for an average of 22.5 service area with 62 lpcd. Its UFW of coverage. The staff per 1,000 hours per day, to 83.3 percent of the 3.3 percent is the second lowest but connections ratio at 14.8 is the highest, population in its service area. this value may be doubtful considering pointing to underutilization in the use of Sewerage service is available to only the lack of metering of production human resources. CWASA rates low in 25 percent of the population. sources and service connections. customer satisfaction, management of Unaccounted-for water (UFW) of 37.2 Financial management looks good with water and human resources, and in percent is the second highest. Only operating ratio of 0.85 and accounts billing and collection efficiency. 70.4 percent of consumption is receivable equivalent of 4.0 months, the metered, leaving the UFW value Rajshahi City Corporation third lowest. Average tariff of Tk. 4.89/ doubtful. Operating ratio is good at m3 is a little higher than the average for 0.78 but accounts receivable Rajshahi City Corporation provides the utilities and it is adequate to raise equivalent of 13.1 months is the third water at 88 lpcd to its consumers for revenues to cover operating expenses. highest. Average tariff of Tk. 6.43/m3 is an average of 12 hours per day, to 84.5 The staff per 1,000 connections ratio at the second highest and covers percent of the population in its service 10.4 is the third highest. With a low operating expenses well. The staff per area. UFW of 25.5 percent is higher UFW, the utility may be facing water 1,000 connections ratio, at 11.9, is the than average. None of its connections resource constraints to be able to second highest. Customer service is are metered, making the UFW an improve on coverage, water availability, good but can still be improved by estimate at best. Production is probably and supply. Staff productivity is another providing more water to current also not metered. Operating ratio is area for improvement. Water quality customers and extending service to 0.71 and accounts receivable monitoring is sorely lacking as well. the unserved 16 percent of the equivalent is 6.9 months, which is still a population. Water losses need to long period to collect bill payments. Chandpur Pourashava be reduced. Bill collection needs Average tariff of Tk. 2.11/m3 is the lowest yet its operating ratio shows that Chandpur Pourashava is doing to be improved and staff this is enough to cover operating reasonably well in water supply productivity enhanced. expenses well. The operating costs coverage but is the third lowest for per Chittagong Water Supply and only show labor or personnel cost and capita consumption at 55 lpcd. Water Sewerage Authority (CWASA) electric expenses. It is possible that availability is the second highest at 20 other expenses are being covered by hours per day, while coverage of 72 CWASA provides water at 70 lpcd to percent is the third highest among the city government subsidy. The staff per its consumers for an average of eight utilities surveyed. Water loss of 16.3 1,000 connections ratio at 8.7 is just a hours per day, to only 34.2 percent of percent is not high compared to the little lower than the average. Overall the population in its service area—the common benchmark of 20 percent performance is just about average second lowest. UFW of 33.3 percent is being used as reasonable value. but improved bill collection and a the third highest and needs to be However, this value should be used review of its financial performance reduced. It has the highest with caution as production and may be needed. consumption by metering at 86.1 connections are not metered. Financial percent but not enough to give an performance is not good, with Bagerhat Pourashava accurate determination of its water operating ratio of 1.53 being the losses. Operating ratio is 0.96 but Bagerhat Pourashava has to improve highest and accounts receivable of accounts receivable equivalent of 12.5 delivery of services to its consumers. It 15.8 months, second to the longest. 13 Average tariff of Tk. 4.17/m3 is just Chapai Nawabganj Pourashava reasonable but the figure is below average but is insufficient to questionable in the absence of Chapai Nawabganj Pourashava has cover operating expenses. The staff metering at both the production end only 36 percent water supply coverage and at service connections. The utility per 1,000 connections ratio at 10.2 is the fourth highest. The utility will have with per capita consumption of 34 has the best financial performance with to focus on addressing low water lpcd, the lowest among the utilities. the lowest operating ratio of 0.42 and supply to consumers, improving Water is available to consumers for only accounts receivable equivalent of 2.8 finances by collecting bills on time and 11 hours per day and coverage is only months. It is also able to collect all its reducing expenses, and raising 36.1 percent of the total population, the bills with a revenue collection efficiency revenues. Staff productivity is another third lowest among the utilities. Water of 100 percent. Average tariff of area for improvement. losses with UFW of 15.9 percent are Tk. 2.76/m3 is the second lowest but it is enough to cover operating expenses comfortably. The staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 8.0 is the third lowest and is reasonable. The pourashava will need to focus on addressing low coverage, low consumption, and water availability. It is doing very well in financial management, and fairly well in UFW and human resources management. Chuadanga Pourashava Chuadanga Pourashava provides water at 87 lpcd to its consumers for an average of only seven hours per day, to 68.3 percent of the population in its service area. It has the lowest UFW at 2.7 percent, although this figure is based on estimates of production and total consumption in the absence of any metering. Financial management is good with an operating ratio of 0.53, the second lowest, and accounts receivable equivalent of 3.1 months, also the second lowest. However, reported revenue collection efficiency is only 75 percent despite the good financial performance. Average tariff of Tk. 4.62/m3 is just above average among the utilities but it covers operating costs well. The staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 7.0 comes 14 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery in second. Except for customer percent of the population in its service satisfactory; customer-client relations satisfaction, the utility is doing very well, area. UFW of 28.2 percent is higher are facilitated through different means particularly in managing its water losses than the average for Bangladesh of communication and lodging and finances. However, more accurate utilities. However, none of its service complaints, and responses from the measurements of production and connections and production sources utility in time. Water losses are low in consumption need to be done. are metered, making the UFW an the absence of metering of both estimate at best. Operating ratio is 1.0 production and consumption but this Gazipur Pourashava and accounts receivable equivalent is needs further investigation. The high Gazipur Pourashava provides water at 8.6 months. Average tariff of Tk. 5.00/ consumption is due to the fact that a 34 lpcd to its consumers for an m3 is the third highest. lager portion of treated water is being average of 10 hours per day, to only used for back washing for arsenic/iron Revenues are just enough to cover 14.8 percent of the population in its removal plant. operating expenses but collection service area. It has the highest UFW of period should be reduced. The staff per Narsingdi Pourashava 52 percent among the utilities 1,000 connections ratio at 8.2 is the surveyed, although the absence of fifth lowest, lower than average among Narsingdi Pourashava provides water at meters to measure production and the utilities. Customer satisfaction 113 lpcd to its consumers for an consumption casts doubt on the needs improvement by increasing average of only seven hours per day, to reliability of this value. However, the water availability, per capita 70.3 percent of the population in its very low coverage, which is also the consumption, and coverage. Tariff service area. UFW of 25.4 percent is lowest among the utilities, suggests increase should bring revenues to a just above average. None of the water supply problems made worse by level to cover operation and connections are metered and there are losses of more than half of production. Financial management is mixed with maintenance (O&M) expenses and fund no bulk meters at the source to read good operating ratio of 0.63 but with an expansion and service improvements. the volume of production, making accounts receivable equivalent of 11.9 the water loss value unreliable Manikganj Pourashava months. Average tariff is Tk. 4.91/m3, and doubtful. the fourth highest, which is enough for Manikganj Pourashava provides water at 264 lpcd to its consumers for an Financial management is poor with revenues to cover operating expenses. average of 20 hours per day, to only operating ratio at 1.43 being the The utility has the lowest staff per 1,000 36.2 percent of the population in its second highest and accounts connections ratio of 5.3, suggesting service area. UFW is the third lowest at receivable equivalent of 55.6 months, good utilization of human resources. 7.2 percent but this estimate is doubtful the highest among the utilities. Average Overall, the utility is not doing well and since only 37.5 percent of the tariff of Tk. 3.59/m3 is the fourth lowest, needs to improve its performance connections are metered and even lower than the unit production starting with reducing water losses and production sources are not fully cost, hence the high operating ratio expanding to unserved areas. Customers deserve more water and metered or not at all. Operating ratio is with revenues insufficient to cover longer distribution hours. While tariffs 0.94 and accounts receivable operating expenses. The staff per seem sufficient, bills have to be equivalent is 8.4 months, which is too 1,000 connections ratio at 8.4 is lower collected in a timely manner. long to collect bill payments. Average than the average. While the utility tariff of Tk. 2.80/m3 is the third lowest provides sufficient water to its Jessore Pourashava and is hardly enough to cover operating consumers, operating hours should Jessore Pourashava provides water at expenses. The staff per 1,000 be increased. Steps must be 72 lpcd to its consumers for an connections ratio at 9.7 is higher than taken to improve collection and average of nine hours per day, to 68 average. Customer satisfaction is increase revenues. 15 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Comments and Analyses Based on Indicators Water supply coverage Chuadanga (87 lpcd). Consumption of (15.9 percent), and Chandpur (16.3 (Average: 55.4 percent) 100–120 lpcd is reasonable as it is high percent)—all with lower than 20 enough to provide for health and percent UFW. The worst performers None of the 11 utilities have 100 hygiene requirements and low enough with high UFW are Gazipur (52 percent coverage. Four have more than to help conserve water resources. percent), Dhaka (37.2 percent), 70 percent: Rajshahi (84.5 percent), Consumption in Manikganj is excessive Chittagong (33.3 percent), and Jessore Dhaka (83.3 percent), Chandpur (72 but it can be lowered by conservation (28.2 percent). Metering is a critical percent), and Narsingdi (70.3 percent). awareness, raising its low tariff, and component for determining UFW. None About half of the utilities are serving less recalculating the amount for backwash of the utilities are fully metered. Only than 50 percent of the population in treatment plant. The low-consumption Dhaka, Chittagong, and Manikganj their respective areas of responsibility. areas are Chapai Nawabganj (34 lpcd), have some metering of service The lowest coverage is in Gazipur (14.8 Gazipur (34 lpcd), Chandpur (55 lpcd), connections. Most, if not all, do not percent), followed by Chittagong (34.2 and Bagerhat (62 lpcd). All these utilities have resource constraints, while have metering of production as well. percent), Chapai Nawabganj (36.1 Gazipur additionally also has the Hence, UFW figures should be percent), Manikganj (36.2 percent), and highest UFW. interpreted with caution without full Bagerhat (42.2 percent). Besides metering. Given low coverage and low Dhaka and Chittagong, nine towns also Production/person water availability in some utilities, more receive water supply through tubewells, (Average: 0.127 m3/d/person) must be done to reduce UFW levels. which has not been taken into This includes 100 percent metering, IB-Net data. This indicator measures overall repair of visible leaks, elimination of efficiency of water resource use. The Water availability low figures of Chapai Nawabganj illegal connections, and location and (Average: 11.7 hours a day) (0.054 m3/d/c), Chandpur (0.067 repair of invisible leaks. m3/d/c), Gazipur (0.075 m3/d/c), No water utility has 24-hour water Connections metered Bagerhat (0.084 m3/d/c), and supply. The highest supply duration is in (Average: 17.6 percent) Chuadanga (0.093 m3/d/c) reflect Dhaka (23 hours), followed by shortages of water resources. Those Metering is important to fully account Chandpur (20 hours), Manikganj (20 with high production are Manikganj for water production and consumption hours), and Rajshahi (12 hours). The (0.326 m3/d/c), Narsingdi (0.168 m3/d/ rest of the utilities have less than 12 in reducing UFW. Consumption c), Dhaka (0.159 m3/d/c), Rajshahi hours supply per day. Supply duration metering is particularly important for (0.132 m3/d/c), and Chittagong (0.130 of less than 24 hours poses a risk to consumers to pay for what they are m3/d/c). High production for Manikganj, health and also affects ability to reduce Narsingdi, and Rajshahi are needed to using, which can help in promoting UFW levels. The shortest supply fulfill high demand encouraged by low prudent use of water. The only utilities duration is in Bagerhat (two hours), tariffs. Dhaka and Chittagong require with some metering of service followed by Narsingdi (seven hours), high production to compensate for high connections are Chittagong (86.1 Chuadanga (seven hours), Chittagong levels of UFW. percent), Dhaka (70.4 percent), and (eight hours), and Jessore (nine hours). Manikganj (37.5 percent). Rajshahi and Unaccounted-for water the remaining seven pourashavas have Consumption (Average: 88.0 lpcd) (Average: 22.5 percent) no metering at all. Consumption The cities or municipalities with high The best performing utilities with low metering must be complemented with consumption rates are Manikganj (264 UFW are Chuadanga (2.7 percent), full production metering if losses are to lpcd), Narsingdi (113 lpcd), Dhaka (90 Bagerhat (3.3 percent), Manikganj be accurately determined to initiate any lpcd), Rajshahi (88 lpcd), and (7.2 percent), Chapai Nawabganj water loss reduction programs. 17 Rajshahi (0.71). The worst performers are Chandpur (1.53), Narsingdi (1.43), and Jessore (1.00). Five utilities have operating ratios between 0.75 and 1.00. Most of the utilities operate as water departments of pourashavas and have some subsidy from the local governments. Some operating costs have missing components other than personnel or labor costs and electrical power costs. The missing cost components are usually funded from operating budgets of the pourashavas. Accounts receivable (Average: 13.0 months) This indicator is a good measure of the effectiveness of a utility in collecting its receivables or bills. In this case, the receivables are expressed as an equivalent of the utility’s average monthly billing. This indicator is also equated to the collection period. For small utilities, accounts receivable representing less than two months of its average billing is manageable; for larger utilities, this could be three months. But if it has risen to six months or more, it has gone out of hand. Only three utilities have accounts receivable equivalent of less than six months. These are the best performers for this performance indicator: Chapai Nawabganj (2.8 months), Chuadanga (3.1 months), and Bagerhat (4.0 months). Operating ratio (Average: 0.89) expand coverage through tariffs without the grants given by local government. A There are four utilities which have A low operating ratio means revenues ratio above 1.0 means that the utilities outstanding bills for more than a year, from tariffs cover the O&M costs do not cover these costs. Four utilities starting with Narsingdi (55.6 months), comfortably. If we include debt service have operating ratios less than 0.75, Chandpur (15.8 months), Dhaka (13.1 and depreciation, it will show whether that is, Chapai Nawabganj (0.42), months), and Chittagong (12.5 the utility also has the capacity to Chuadanga (0.53), Gazipur (0.63), and months) for some of their clients. 18 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Revenue collection efficiency their bills are Chandpur, Chapai assist lower-income households to gain (Average: 98.5 percent) Nawabganj, and Jessore. access to direct connections for their homes with significant benefits to their This indicator, average tariff, operating Average tariff (Average: Tk. 4.38/m3) welfare. None of the utilities surveyed ratio, and accounts receivable have allow payment of residential connection impacts on the financial health of a The average tariff is a good measure of fees by installment. It may be noted utility. Half of the utilities have collection the financial discipline of a utility and its that in some cases connection fees is efficiencies of at least 100 percent. The ability to cover operational costs with several times more than the average worst performers are Manikganj (59 revenues from tariffs. The water utilities monthly bill per connection. Four percent), Rajshahi (60 percent), with high average tariffs are Chittagong utilities charged connection fees of Chuadanga (75 percent), and Bagerhat (Tk. 6.89/m3), Dhaka (Tk. 6.43/m3), Tk. 2,000 or more, those of Chittagong (85 percent). These utilities should Jessore (Tk. 5.00/m3), Gazipur (Tk. (Tk. 5,350), Chandpur (Tk. 2,500), improve their collection efforts and 4.91/m3), and Bagerhat (Tk. 4.89/m3). Dhaka (Tk. 2,118), and Rajshahi encourage consumers to pay their bills Those who charge the lowest tariffs are (Tk. 2,000). The lowest connection fee on time. Three utilities have collection Rajshahi (Tk. 2.11/m3), Chapai is charged by Manikganj (Tk. 300) efficiencies of more than 100 percent, Nawabganj (Tk. 2.76/m3), Manikganj (Tk. followed by Narsingdi (Tk. 500), thus suggesting past years’ arrears are 2.80/m3), and Narsingdi (Tk. 3.59/m3). Jessore (Tk. 500), Chapai Nawabganj also being collected. These include (Tk. 515), and Chuadanga (Tk. 800). Narsingdi (190 percent), Chittagong Residential connection fee (108 percent), and Dhaka (108 (Average: Tk. 1,526) Staff per 1,000 connections ratio percent); they also take the longest (Average: 9.3) time to collect bill payments. Those that Apart from reasonable connection fee, are 100 percent efficient in collecting allowing payments by installment can This indicator is generally used to measure the efficient use of human resources in a utility as manifested by low staff per 1,000 connection ratio. Those with high staff per 1,000 connections ratio are Chittagong (14.8), Dhaka (11.9), Bagerhat (10.4), and Chandpur (10.2). The utilities with the lowest ratio and which are performing well are Gazipur (5.3), Chuadanga (7.0), Chapai Nawabganj (8.0), and Jessore (8.2). Other than downsizing, improvements in this indicator can be made by training staff in different aspects of operations, such as pumping, treatment plant operations, billing and collection, leak control and management, and so on. Investments in capacity building are important if efficient and sustainable operations are to be attained. 19 Overall Performance of Water Utilities The overall performance of a water utility catching up with their neighboring However, it is equally important that can be rated in four areas of countries in Asia, especially in terms of UFW is obtained through the accurate management: customer satisfaction; daily consumption (88 lpcd) which is measurement of production and water resources; financial; and human outside the ideal range attained by their consumption with no less than 100 resources management. Table 2 shows Southeast Asian (107 lpcd) and Filipino percent metering of all sources of the comparative performance in terms (119 lpcd) counterparts. Its immediate production and all service connections. of indicator averages of 11 water utilities neighbor, India, provides a little bit more from Bangladesh with those from India with 123 lpcd. Water availability (11.7 While Bangladesh utilities appear better (20 utilities), the Philippines (45 utilities), hours) is about half of its counterparts at managing their losses with the and Southeast Asia (40 utilities). Data for in Southeast Asia (22.9 hours) and the lowest UFW (22.5 percent) compared the Philippines’ utilities were for 2004, Philippines (21 hours) but much higher to its Southeast Asian (27.8 percent), the Southeast Asian utilities for 2006– than in India (4.3 hours). The WASAs Filipino (29.6 percent), and Indian (31.8 07, and the India utilities for 2006–07. and pourashavas will have to increase percent) counterparts, it has the lowest coverage (55.4 percent) to catch up rate of metering (17.6 percent), casting Customer satisfaction with its neighbors, particularly India some doubts on actual performance as Customer satisfaction can be measured (81.2 percent) and Southeast Asia far as UFW is concerned. None of the in terms of coverage, water availability, (74.9 percent). averages show 100 percent and average daily consumption. Efficient consumption metering but there is Water resources management utilities strive for 100 percent coverage, greater need to increase metering of 24-hour availability, and daily The single most important parameter to both production and service consumption of about 100–120 lpcd. indicate performance regarding water connections among Bangladeshi Bangladeshi utilities need some resources management is UFW. water utilities. Table 2: Comparison of Overall Performance Indicators Bangladesh (11) India (20) The Philippines (45) Southeast Asia (40) Water coverage (%) 55.4 81.2 64.7 74.9 Water availability (hours) 11.7 4.3 21.0 22.9 Consumption/capita (lpcd) 88 123 119 107 Unaccounted-for water (%) 22.5 31.8 29.6 27.8 Connections metered (%) 17.6 24.5 95.7 99.4 Operating ratio 0.89 1.63 1.10 0.84 Accounts receivable (months) 13.0 4.9 1.8 0.9 Staff/1,000 connections (ratio) 9.3 7.4 7.1 7.2 20 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Financial management The most important measures of financial management are operating ratio and accounts receivable. Bangladeshi utilities compare very well on operating ratio (0.89) but fare badly on accounts receivable (13.0 months). Their average for operating ratio is better than India (1.63) and the Philippines (1.10) and is comparable to their Southeast Asian counterparts (0.84) who are a little bit better. However, some of the reporting for operating expenses by the pourashavas shows some missing components that could be covered under local government subsidy. Collections of bill payments are much faster in Southeast Asia (0.9 months), the Philippines (1.8 months), and India (4.9 months). Human resources management The most common measure for human resources management is staff per 1,000 connections. Management and staff are the most important resources of a water utility. Bangladesh utilities have more staff per 1,000 connections (9.3) compared to the Philippines (7.1), Southeast Asia (7.2), and India (7.4). Most water departments running the utilities in Bangladesh are part of the local governments or pourashavas. Most urban utilities in the Philippines and Southeast Asia have higher levels of autonomy, allowing them to resist political intervention in recruiting and hiring staff. India’s water and sewerage utilities are part of urban local bodies. 21 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Conclusions The data presented in this book Given the above assessment, sector Staff of the 11 participating utilities in attempt to provide a picture of the stakeholders in Bangladesh need to the benchmarking and performance performance of 11 water utilities in focus on: improvement project have been Bangladesh. The performance introduced to analysis of performance indicators were derived from G Advocacy for more investment in the indicators and have gone through the information provided by the sector and greater coverage. exercise of developing performance participating water utilities. It should be G Ensuring 24-hour supply to improvement plans. It is up to these noted that the reliability of a number of all consumers. utilities to implement the plans and important indicators for some utilities— G Ensuring 100 percent metering of include them in their annual such as per capita consumption, UFW, both production and consumption. business plans. and financial indicators related to G Managing water losses by keeping consumption and billing—remains a Performance improvement for each UFW in check, appropriate pricing, concern in the absence of full metering utility will have to be based on the and public awareness. and should be used with caution. Any indicators and their operating G Phasing out public taps and other performance improvement program environment as described in the utility sources of free water. will have to improve measurement and and area profiles in this Data Book. G Applying appropriate tariffs to cover Utilities are encouraged to learn from recording of operational information as O&M costs and costs of expansion those who are performing well, by a first step in getting a complete and replacements. identifying them and communicating assessment of any water utility’s overall performance. G Investing in capacity-building for staff with them using the contact details in and management. this book. There are similar data books Overall, Bangladesh’s water utilities will G Monitoring performance regularly in Southeast Asia and South Asia as have to increase water availability to 24 through appropriate management well as water utility networks in these hours, increase coverage and the information systems. and other regions—globally these can supply of water to their consumers. G Providing support to urban poor people be sources of information of utility Realistic assessments of UFW should through lifeline rates and payment of performance which can be used be determined starting with full connection fees in installments. as well. metering of production and consumption. Financial management will have to be improved, particularly the collection of bill payments in a timely manner, to no more than two or three months. Ring-fencing of finances among the water departments in the pourashavas should allow the utilities to determine how well their revenues cover their operating expenses. Efficiencies in the different areas of operations can be gained with skilled and qualified staff. The WASAs and pourashavas would do well in investing in training and building the capabilities of their staff and managers. 23 PART 2 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Utilities’ Comparisons Table 3: Names and Locations of Utilities Name of utility Town/city Region Dhaka Water Supply and Dhaka and Dhaka Sewerage Authority (DWASA) Narayanganj Chittagong Water Supply Chittagong Chittagong and Sewerage Authority (CWASA) Rajshahi City Corporation Rajshahi Rajshahi Bagerhat Pourashava Bagerhat Khulna Chandpur Pourashava Chandpur Chittagong Chapai Nawabganj Pourashava Chapai Nawabganj Rajshahi Chuadanga Pourashava Chuadanga Khulna Gazipur Pourashava Gazipur Dhaka Jessore Pourashava Jessore Jessore Manikganj Pourashava Manikganj Dhaka Narsingdi Pourashava Narsingdi Dhaka 26 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Table 4: Size of Utilities Utility Population People % of population Production Number Number served served (cu. m./day) of connections of staff Dhaka 12,000,000 10,000,000 83.3 1,585,014 243,000 2,888 Chittagong 3,600,000 1,230,000 34.2 159,507 43,810 650 Rajshahi 773,430 653,630 84.5 86,082 22,650 196 Bagerhat 116,000 49,000 42.2 4,110 4,500 47 Chandpur 150,000 108,000 72.0 7,233 4,620 47 Chapai 249,000 90,000 36.1 4,822 3,750 30 Nawabganj Chuadanga 63,000 43,000 68.3 4,000 4,010 28 Gazipur 502,000 74,270 14.8 5,534 2,060 31 Jessore 147,000 100,000 68.0 10,685 8,950 73 Manikganj 58,060 21,000 36.2 6,849 3,200 31 Narsingdi 32,060 22,500 70.3 3,781 2,250 19 Data year: 2006–07. 27 Figure 1: Types of Water Utilities Figure 2: Production Volume 28 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Figure 3: Water Use Figure 4: Per Capita Consumption 29 Figure 5: Monthly Consumption per Connection Figure 6: Unaccounted-for Water 30 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Figure 7: Nonrevenue Water Figure 8: Consumer Metering 31 Figure 9: Water Coverage Figure 10: Water Availability 32 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Figure 11: Monthly Bill per Connection Figure 12: Water Quality Sampling * No sampling reported; Chapai Nawabganj and Manikganj with only one and two samples each. 33 Figure 13: Complaints Received Figure 14: Pipe Breaks Repaired 34 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Figure 15: Operating Ratio Figure 16: Accounts Receivable 35 Figure 17: Revenue Collection Efficiency 190 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Percentage collection over billings Figure 18: Staff per 1,000 Connections 0 3 6 9 12 15 Staff per 1,000 connections 36 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Figure 19: Average Tariff Figure 20: Unit Production Cost 37 Figure 21: Connection Fee for Residential Connection Figure 22: Annual Operation and Maintenance Costs 38 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Figure 23: Operation and Maintenance Cost Components 39 PART 3 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Water Utility and Area Profiles 33 DHAKA Utility Profile Water Utility DHAKA WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE AUTHORITY WASA Bhaban, 98 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Kawranbazar, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh Telephone: 02-8116792, 01714-166155, Fax: 02-8112109, E-mail: mddwasa@bangla.net, Contact: Md Raihanul Abedin, Managing Director Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) is a government-owned water authority operating under commercial law. It is responsible for providing water supply and sewerage services to the city of Dhaka and nearby Narayanganj which has a combined population of 12,000,000 people in an urban service area. The city government provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. It depends on grants and government transfer as well as borrowings from international financing agencies for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 243,000 Staff: 2,888 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 2,345,773,000 Annual billings: Tk. 3,017,005,554 Annual collections: Tk. 3,253,986,554 Debt service for 2006–07: Tk. 53,032,152,000 Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 47,788,126,000 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer; borrowings from international financing agencies Management and Governance The private sector is involved in some of the utility’s operations through multiple service contracts. It has skills and training strategy, annual appraisal and target setting for staff and managers, but no staff reward and recognition program. DWASA also has the power to recruit and dismiss staff on its own. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: No data Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 3.39 Residential fixed component of tariff: No data Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 2,118 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under the city government in its oversight capacity. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 124.5 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 800.37 per month per connection. Water is available 22.5 hours a day to most users. None of the population served has intermittent water supply. Only 26 percent of 1,272 water samples taken passed the residual chlorine test. There were about 15,000 consumer complaints recorded while 3,024 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter, telephone and e-mail. The utility gets the views of customers when attending to complaints brought out through these means, by surveys, and by the print and electronic media. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights DWASA provides water at 90 lpcd to its consumers for an average of 22.5 hours per day to 83.3 percent of the population in its service area. Sewerage service is available to only 25 percent of the population. UFW of 37.2 percent is the second highest. Only 70.4 percent of consumption is metered, leaving the UFW value doubtful. Operating ratio is good at 0.78 but accounts receivable equivalent of 13.1 months is the third highest. Average tariff of Tk. 6.43/m3 is the second highest and covers operating expenses well. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 11.9 is the second highest. Customer service is good but can still be improved by providing more water to present customers and extending service to the unserved 16 percent of the population. Water losses need to be reduced. Bill collection needs to be improved and staff productivity enhanced. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Financial management needs improvement starting with taking steps to collect arrears and having customers pay on time. Collection efficiency of 108 percent means that collection of arrears has started in 2006–07. UFW needs to be reduced to allow for expansion to the unserved areas as well as increase the amount made available to consumers. Reducing water losses will require full metering of all production sources and all connections including public water points to determine the real extent of losses. Staff per 1,000 water connections is high when compared to both the other utilities in Bangladesh and in similar utilities in Asia. Water quality should be a concern considering that only 26 percent out of 1,272 water samples passed the residual chlorine test. Measures must be taken not only to monitor water quality but also to see that the required water quality parameters are met. 42 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile DHAKA DHAKA WATER SUPPLY Population: 12,000,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 1,585,014 m3/d Distribution pipes 2,534.0 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 264,000,000 m3 Residential—PWP 66,000,000 m3 Commercial/industrial 24,000,000 m3 Institutional 9,000,000 m3 Bulk supply 80,000 m3 Annual Water Use Water Service 578,530,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 8,000,000 Public water points 2,000,000 Total 10,000,000 Pipe breaks 3,204 Complaints 15,000 Service Indicators Water coverage2 83% Water availability3 23 hours/day Per capita consumption4 90 l/c/d Average tariff 6.43 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage5 25% Annual Water Billings10 Tk. 2,333,868,098 Efficiency Indicators Unaccounted-for water6 37.2% Nonrevenue water7 48.6% Unit production cost 4.05 Tk./m3 Operating ratio8 0.78 Accounts receivable 13.1 months Staff/1,000 connections9 11.9 out Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 Only 26 percent of 1,272 water samples taken passed the residual chlorine test. 3 None of the population served were reported to have intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 DWASA is the only utility that reported providing sewerage services. 6 About 70 percent of the total connections are metered. Water losses are based on estimated values. 7 There were no public water points billing given. 8 Operating ratio is for total O&M costs and total revenues for water supply and sewerage. 9 Staff per 1,000 connections ratio is for water supply connections and staff. 10 Billings are for water supply only. Annual O&M Costs11 11 Others includes labor and other costs. Data as of 2006-07. Tk. 2,345,773,000 43 CHITTAGONG Utility Profile Water Utility CHITTAGONG WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE AUTHORITY WASA Bhaban, Dampara, Chittagong, Bangladesh Telephone: 031-2851698, Fax: 031-2610465, E-mail: cwasa@globalctg.net, Contact: Md Shafiqul Islam, Chief Engineer Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (CWASA) is a water authority with the Chittagong local government that is responsible for providing water supply services to the city of Chittagong with a total population of 3,600,000 people in an urban service area. The city government provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. It depends on grants and government transfer as well as borrowings from international financing agencies for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 43,810 Staff: 650 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 256,865,657 Annual billings: Tk. 267,436,981 Annual collections: Tk. 289,537,319 Debt service for 2006–07: Tk. 944,817,860 Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 1,942,760,677 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer; borrowings from international financing agencies Management and Governance The private sector is not involved in any of the utility’s operations. It has no skills and training strategy, annual appraisal and target setting for staff and managers, and staff reward and recognition program. CWASA has no power to recruit and dismiss staff on its own. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 130.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 2.76 Residential fixed component of tariff: 23.6 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 5,350 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under the city government in its oversight capacity. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 73.9 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 508.71 per month per connection. Water is available eight hours a day to most users. All of the population served has intermittent water supply. All 7,280 water samples taken passed the residual chlorine test. There were 4,247 consumer complaints recorded while 2,096 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter or telephone. The utility gets the views of customers when attending to complaints brought out through these means. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights CWASA provides water at 70 lpcd to its consumers for an average of eight hours per day to only 34.2 percent of the population in its service area, the second lowest. UFW of 33.3 percent is the third highest and needs to be reduced. It has the highest consumption metering at 86.1 percent but not enough to give an accurate determination of its water losses. Operating ratio is 0.96 but accounts receivable equivalent of 12.5 months is too much. Average tariff of Tk. 6.89/m3 is the highest yet it is barely enough to cover operating expenses due to high water losses. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 14.8 is the highest, pointing to inefficiencies in the use of human resources. CWASA rates low in customer satisfaction, management of water and human resources, and in billing and collection. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Reducing water losses can help in partly addressing the problems of low water availability, coverage, and the amount being provided to CWASA consumers. While it has the highest metering rate, determination of actual losses will require full metering of both production and consumption. The utility will have to invest in developing additional water sources to fully address the above problems and satisfy its customers. The high average tariff rate is almost not enough to cover operating expenses as part of operating expenses goes to production that is lost either through leaks or illegal connections. Tariff will still increase with additional investments for capital development although there is still much room for increasing the revenue base with the unserved two-thirds of the population. Instead of reducing its staff, CWASA can train its excess personnel in other areas of operations, especially where expansion of both production and distribution are contemplated. 44 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile CHITTAGONG CHITTAGONG WATER SUPPLY Population: 3,600,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 159,507 m3/d Distribution pipes 610.7 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 31,310,000 m3 Residential—PWP Nil Commercial/industrial 6,920,000 m3 Institutional 610,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Annual Water Use Water Service 58,220,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 1,118,000 Public water points 112,000 Total 1,230,000 Pipe breaks 2,096 Complaints 4,247 Service Indicators Water coverage2 34% Water availability3` 8 hours/day Per capita consumption4 70 l/c/d Average tariff 6.89 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage5 Nil Efficiency Indicators Annual Water Billings Tk. 267,436,981 Unaccounted-for water6 33.3% Nonrevenue water7 33.3% Unit production cost 4.41 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 0.96 Accounts receivable 12.5 months Staff/1,000 connections 14.8 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 All 7,280 samples taken passed the residual chlorine test. 3 All the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 No sewerage data were given. Only water supply services were reported as being provided. 6 About 86 percent of the total connections are metered. Water losses are based on estimated values. 7 There were no public water points consumption given but 112,000 people draw water from such water points. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs Tk. 256,865,657 45 RAJSHAHI Utility Profile Water Utility RAJSHAHI CITY CORPORATION Nagar Bhaban, Rajshahi City, Rajshahi, Bangladesh Telephone: 0721-775435, 01711-587834, Fax: 0721-772669, E-mail: saritdg@hotmail.com, Contact: Datta Gupta Sarit, Chief Engineer Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) is a statutory body with a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the city of Rajshahi with a total population of 773,430 people in an urban service area. The city government provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. The utility depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a multiyear basis, identifying targets and resources to effect change and improvements. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 22,650 Staff: 196 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 35,315,000 Annual billings: Tk. 49,392,916 Annual collections: Tk. 29,467,814 Debt service for 2006–07: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 651,531,000 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance The private sector is involved in some of the utility’s operations through multiple service contracts. The utility has skills and training strategy, annual appraisal and target setting for both staff and managers, and staff reward and recognition program under human resources development. It also has the ability to recruit and dismiss staff within an agreed plan. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 60.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 6.65 Residential fixed component of tariff: 33.0 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 2,000 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under the city government in its oversight capacity. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 86.1 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 181.73 per month per connection. Water is available 12 hours a day to most users. All of the population served has intermittent water supply. About 73 percent of 6,850 water samples taken passed the residual chlorine test. There were 2,785 consumer complaints recorded while 1,436 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter or telephone. The utility gets the views of customers when attending to complaints brought out through these means. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Rajshahi City Corporation provides water at 88 lpcd to its consumers for an average of 12 hours per day to 84.5 percent of the population in its service area. UFW of 25.5 percent is higher than average. None of its connections are metered, making the UFW an estimate at best. Production is probably also not metered. Operating ratio is 0.71 and accounts receivable equivalent is 6.9 months, which is still a long period to collect bill payments. Average tariff of Tk. 2.11/m3 is the lowest yet its operating ratio shows that this is enough to cover operating expenses well. The operating costs only show labor or personnel cost and electric expenses. It is possible that other expenses are being covered by city government subsidy. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 8.7 is just a little lower than the average. Overall performance is just about average but improved bill collection and a review of its financial performance may be needed. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Improving customer satisfaction will require increasing the amount of water available to at least 100 lpcd and availability to 24 hours per day as all of its customers suffer from intermittent supply and get water for only 12 hours a day. Metering of all production sources and service connections is a given requirement to reduce water losses by determining the real extent of leaks and illegal connections. Increasing production may be required to achieve longer availability and increasing the per capita consumption. The UFW is not that high to allow getting all the additional water requirements from reduction of losses alone. There is room for increasing tariffs when the average tariff for all the utilities is more than twice the present tariff and the highest is about thrice that of RCC. A review of the current tariff rates may be needed in view of the anomaly of having very low average tariff and low operating ratio. Collection period for bill payments needs to be reduced. 46 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile RAJSHAHI RAJSHAHI WATER SUPPLY Population: 773,4301 Production/Distribution Average daily production 86,082 m3/d Distribution pipes 430.0 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 21,050,000 m3 Residential—PWP Nil Commercial/industrial 1,340,000 m3 Institutional 1,020,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil m3 Annual Water Use Water Service 31,420,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 520,400 Public water points 133,230 Total 653,630 Pipe breaks 1,436 Complaints 2,785 Service Indicators Water coverage2 85% Water availability3 12 hours/day Per capita consumption4 88 l/c/d Average tariff 2.11 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Annual Water Billings Efficiency Indicators Tk. 49,392,916 Unaccounted-for water5 25.5% Nonrevenue water6 25.5% Unit production cost7 1.12 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 0.71 Accounts receivable 6.9 months Staff/1,000 connections 8.7 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 About 73 percent of 6,850 samples taken passed the residual chlorine test. 3 All the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 There were no public water points consumption given but 133,230 people draw water from such water points. 7 These were the only cost components given for the total O&M cost. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs7 Tk. 35,315,000 47 BAGERHAT Utility Profile Water Utility BAGERHAT POURASHAVA Bagerhat, Khulna, Bangladesh Telephone: 0468-63108, 0468-62710, Fax: none, E-mail: none, Contact: Khan Habibur Rahman, Chairman Bagerhat Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Bagerhat with a total population of 116,000 people in a predominantly urban service area. The utility is part of the local government which provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a multiyear basis, identifying targets and resources for change and improvement. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 4,500 Staff: 47 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 6,015,275 Annual billings: Tk. 7,091,760 Annual collections: Tk. 6,015,231 Debt service for 2006–07: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 6,485,650 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of its operations, although the utility indicated contracted out costs in its operating expenses. No skills and training strategy, annual staff appraisal and target setting, nor staff reward and recognition program are available. Being a department of the local government, the utility does not have the ability to recruit and dismiss staff on its own. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 110.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 0.33 Residential fixed component of tariff: 83.8 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 1,205 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under local government control. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 26.9 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 131.33 per month per connection. Water is available two hours a day to most users. About 86 percent of the population served has intermittent water supply. Water quality may not be adequate as no residual chlorine test was reported for the year. There were 115 consumer complaints on water service recorded while about 20 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter or telephone. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Bagerhat Pourashava has to improve delivery of services to its consumers. It has the lowest water availability of only two hours per day among the surveyed utilities. It is providing water to only 42.2 percent of the total population in its service area with 62 lpcd. Its UFW of 3.3 percent is the second lowest but this value may be doubtful considering the lack of metering of production sources and service connections. Financial management looks good with operating ratio of 0.85 and accounts receivable equivalent of 4.0 months is the third lowest. Average tariff of Tk. 4.89/m3 is a little higher than the average for the utilities and it is adequate to raise revenues to cover operating expenses. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 10.4 is the third highest. With a low UFW, the utility may be facing water resource constraints to be able to improve on coverage, water availability, and supply. Staff productivity is another area for improvement. Water quality monitoring is sorely lacking as well. Performance Gaps to be Addressed The very scant two hours per day water availability is the major issue that needs to be addressed. It could very well be that water sources are very insufficient, preventing the utility to expand services to unserved areas over 24 hours per day and to at least bring the level of water supply per capita to about 100 lpcd. It is surprising that while the pourashava is doing reasonably well in managing its finances, the same could not be said with delivering water supply services. While the collection period is already low, this can still be improved to two months or less. An operating ratio of 0.75 is a comfortable level that allows recovery of operating expenses but also the cost of capital development for expansion and new sources. Expenses for new construction for additional sources and distribution network expansion will require tariff adjustment as well. Training and capacity building will be required and better management and utilization of human resources are better alternatives to addressing staff productivity issues than laying off excess staff. 48 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile BAGERHAT BAGERHAT WATER SUPPLY Population: 116,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 4,110 m3/d Distribution pipes 65.1 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 1,100,000 m3 Residential—PWP Nil Commercial/industrial 150,000 m3 Institutional 200,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Annual Water Use Water Service 1,500,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 45,000 Public water points 4,000 Total 49,000 Pipe breaks 20 Complaints 115 Service Indicators Water coverage2 42% Water availability3 2 hours/day Per capita consumption4 62 l/c/d Average tariff 4.89 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Annual Water Billings Efficiency Indicators Tk. 7,091,760 Unaccounted-for water5 3.3% Nonrevenue water6 3.3% Unit production cost7 4.01 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 0.85 Accounts receivable 4.0 months Staff/1,000 connections 10.4 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 No data on residual chlorine test was given. 3 About 86 percent of the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 Free water from public water taps may not have been recorded. 7 Unit production cost is based on O&M cost without depreciation. 8 Other costs include repair and maintenance cost for treatment plant. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs8 Tk. 6,015,275 49 CHANDPUR Utility Profile Water Utility CHANDPUR POURASHAVA Chandpur, Chittagong, Bangladesh Telephone: 0841-63404, 01711-669309, Fax: none, E-mail: none, Contact: Md Nasir Uddin, Chairman Chandpur Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Chandpur with a total population of 150,000 people in a predominantly urban service area. The utility is part of the local government which provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. While it is part of the local government, the utility’s finances are ring-fenced. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 4,620 Staff: 47 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 14,077,765 Annual billings: Tk. 9,210,100 Annual collections: Tk. 9,210,000 Debt service: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 152,500,000 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of the utility’s operations. No skills and training strategy or staff reward and recognition program are available. However, the water department has an annual appraisal and target setting system for staff in place. It also has the ability to recruit and dismiss staff within an agreed plan. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 150.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: No data Residential fixed component of tariff: 90.4 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 2,500 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under local government control under its oversight function. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 39.9 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 166.13 per month per connection. Water is available 20 hours a day to most users. All of the population served have intermittent water supply. Water quality is being monitored with all 35 water samples taken passing the residual chlorine test. There were 275 consumer complaints on water service recorded while about 450 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter or telephone, which are also used to get the views of customers. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Chandpur Pourashava is doing reasonably well in customer satisfaction except for per capita consumption which is the third lowest at 55 lpcd. Water availability is the second highest at 20 hours per day while coverage of 72 percent is the third highest among the utilities surveyed. Water loss of 16.3 percent is not high compared to the common benchmark of 20 percent being used as reasonable value. However, this value should be used with caution as production and connections are not metered. Financial performance is not good with operating ratio of 1.53 being the highest and accounts receivable of 15.8 months, second to the longest. Average tariff of Tk. 4.17/m3 is just below average but is very insufficient to cover operating expenses. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 10.2 is the fourth highest. The utility will have to focus on addressing low water supply to consumers, improving finances by collecting bills on time and reducing expenses and raising revenues. Staff productivity is another area for improvement. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Major performance gaps to be addressed are in financial management and supply to consumers. With current tariff levels, operating revenues will not be enough to cover expenses. Operating ratio should be reduced to about 0.75 or better by either reducing expenses or increasing revenues or both. Additional water supply will have to come from development of new sources of water considering that UFW is not high if per capita consumption has to be raised to at least 100 lpcd. This will require new investments in capital development which will further strain the utility’s financial capability. Improving collection of bill payments to get users to pay within two months from the time they get their bills will be necessary. Excess staff can be dealt with through staff reduction or increasing staff productivity. Training and capacity building are better alternatives. 50 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile CHANDPUR CHANDPUR WATER SUPPLY Population: 150,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 7,233m3/d Distribution pipes 64.0 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 2,160,000 m3 Residential—PWP 20,000 m3 Commercial/industrial Nil Institutional 30,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Annual Water Use Water Service 2,640,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 88,000 Public water points 20,000 Total 108,000 Pipe breaks 450 Complaints 275 Service Indicators Water coverage2 72% Water availability3 20 hours/day Per capita consumption4 55 l/c/d Average tariff 4.17 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Annual Water Billings Efficiency Indicators Tk. 9,210,100 Unaccounted-for water5 16.3% Nonrevenue water6 18.2% Unit production cost 5.33 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 1.53 Accounts receivable 15.8 months Staff/1,000 connections 10.2 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 All 35 samples taken passed the residual chlorine test. 3 All of the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 There were no water billings for public water points and institutional consumption. 7 No breakdown was given except for electrical costs. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs7 Tk. 14,077,765 51 CHAPAI NAWABGANJ Utility Profile Water Utility CHAPAI NAWABGANJ POURASHAVA Chapai Nawabganj, Rajshahi, Bangladesh Telephone: 0781-55226, 01552-359302, Fax: 0781-55227, E-mail: none, Contact: Professor Ataur Rahman, Chairman Chapai Nawabganj Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Chapai Nawabganj with a total population of 249,000 people in a predominantly urban service area. An independent board of stakeholders provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. While it is part of the local government, the utility’s finances are ring-fenced. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a multiyear basis, identifying targets and resources for change and improvement. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 3,750 Staff: 30 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 1,734,636 Annual billings: Tk. 4,086,240 Annual collections: Tk. 4,086,240 Debt service: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 109,610,540 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of the utility’s operations, although it indicated contracted out costs in its operating expenses. It has skills and training strategy, annual staff appraisal and target setting, and staff reward and recognition program under its human resources development program. It also has the ability to recruit and dismiss staff within an agreed plan. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 80.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 0.64 Residential fixed component of tariff: 88.1 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 515 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under an independent board of stakeholders. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 32.9 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 90.81 per month per connection. Water is available 11 hours a day to most users. All of the population served have intermittent water supply. Water quality is hardly being monitored with only one water sample tested for residual chlorine during the year. There were 1,235 consumer complaints on water service recorded while only five pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter or telephone, which are also used to get the views of customers. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Chapai Nawabganj Pourashava is not doing well in customer satisfaction with low per capita consumption of 34 lpcd, the lowest among the utilities. Water is available to consumers for only 11 hours per day and coverage is only 36.1 percent of the total population, the third lowest among the utilities. Water losses, with UFW of 15.9 percent, are reasonable but the figure is questionable in the absence of metering at both the production end and at service connections. The utility has the best financial performance with the lowest operating ratio of 0.42 and accounts receivable equivalent of 2.8 months. It is also able to collect all its bills with a revenue collection efficiency of 100 percent. Average tariff of Tk. 2.76/m3 is the second lowest but it is enough to cover operating expenses comfortably. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 8.0 is the third lowest and is reasonable. The pourashava will need to focus on addressing low coverage, low consumption, and water availability. It is doing very well in financial management and fairly well in UFW and human resources management. Performance Gaps to be Addressed The utility may have to improve on its low coverage, water availability, and supply with investments in new sources and distribution systems to unserved areas. Water losses are already low so that new supplies will come from additional water sources. It has to increase water supply to consumers to at least 100 lpcd, water availability to 24 hours a day, and expand services to about two-thirds of the total population in its area of responsibility. With the utility’s good financial management, additional costs may be absorbed with increase in tariffs, which is the second-lowest. Despite the reasonable level of its water losses, the utility will also have to invest in metering of production and all service connections to further improve on water resources management. It has to improve its water quality monitoring, which is currently inadequate. 52 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile CHAPAI NAWABGANJ CHAPAI NAWABGANJ WATER SUPPLY Population: 249,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 4,822 m3/d Distribution pipes 64.7 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 1,000,000 m3 Residential—PWP 100,000 m3 Commercial/industrial 280,000 m3 Institutional 100,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Annual Water Use Water Service 1,760,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 75,000 Public water points 15,000 Total 90,000 Pipe breaks 5 Complaints 1,235 Service Indicators Water coverage2 36% Water availability3 11 hours/day Per capita consumption4 34 l/c/d Average tariff 2.76 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Annual Water Billings Efficiency Indicators Tk. 4,086,240 Unaccounted-for water5 15.9% Nonrevenue water6 21.6% Unit production cost 0.99 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 0.42 Accounts receivable 2.8 months Staff/1,000 connections 8.0 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 The only sample taken passed the residual chlorine test. 3 All the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 There were no billings for public water points consumption. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs Tk. 1,734,636 53 CHUADANGA Utility Profile Water Utility CHUADANGA POURASHAVA Chuadanga, Khulna, Bangladesh Telephone: 0761-62281, 01711-965800, Fax: 0761-62281, E-mail: none, Contact: Md Ashraf Ali, Chairman Chuadanga Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Chuadanga with a total population of 63,000 people in a predominantly urban service area. The utility is part of the local government which provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 4,010 Staff: 28 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 3,498,050 Annual billings: Tk. 6,566,791 Annual collections: Tk. 4,917,213 Debt service: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 340,000,000 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of the utility’s operations. No skills and training strategy, annual staff appraisal and target setting, and staff reward and recognition program are available. However, the utility has the ability to recruit and dismiss staff within an agreed plan. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 68.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 3.86 Residential fixed component of tariff: 49.7 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 800 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under local government control under its oversight function. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 29.5 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 136.47 per month per connection. Water is available seven hours a day to most users. All of the population served have intermittent water supply. Water quality monitoring is inadequate with no residual chlorine test conducted during the year. There were 280 consumer complaints on water service recorded while 42 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by telephone, which are also used to get the views of customers. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Chuadanga Pourashava provides water at 87 lpcd to its consumers for an average of only seven hours per day to 68.3 percent of the population in its service area. It has the lowest UFW at 2.7 percent, although this figure is based on estimates of production and total consumption in the absence of any metering. Financial management is good with an operating ratio of 0.53, the second lowest, and accounts receivable equivalent of 3.1 months, also the second lowest. However, reported revenue collection efficiency is only 75 percent despite the good financial performance. Average tariff of Tk. 4.62/m3 is just above average among the utilities but it covers operating costs well. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 7.0 is the second. Except for customer satisfaction, the utility is doing very well, particularly in managing its water losses and its finances. However, more accurate measures of production and consumption need to be done. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Major performance gaps for this utility are in consumer satisfaction, particularly in the number of hours water is made available to its consumers and low coverage. Continuous supply is necessary for health and water quality considerations, hence the need for 24-hour supply. Water delivered to consumers should be increased to about 100 lpcd while services should be expanded to the 32 percent of the population still not served by the pourashava. While UFW is very low, there is a need for a better measure of production and consumption. Full metering is needed not just for measuring UFW accurately but also for proper billing based on actual consumption. Revenue collection efficiency needs to be increased to 100 percent from its current 75 percent. With the low UFW, improvements in coverage, availability, and per capita consumption will have to come from capital development. The utility’s operating ratio suggests that additional costs can still be absorbed by the current tariff, although there is a possibility that tariffs would increase with additional investments to finance expansion and development of additional sources. 54 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile CHUADANGA CHUADANGA WATER SUPPLY Population: 63,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 4,000 m3/d Distribution pipes 50.8 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 1,360,000 m3 Residential—PWP Nil Commercial/industrial 50,000 m3 Institutional 10,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Water Service Annual Water Use 1,460,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 42,000 Public water points 1,000 Total 43,000 Pipe breaks 42 Complaints 280 Service Indicators Water coverage2 68% Water availability3 7 hours/day Per capita consumption4 87 l/c/d Average tariff 4.62 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Annual Water Billings Efficiency Indicators Tk. 6,566,791 Unaccounted-for water5 2.7% Nonrevenue water6 3.4% Unit production cost 2.40 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 0.53 Accounts receivable 3.1 months Staff/1,000 connections 7.0 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 No data on residual chlorine test was given. 3 All the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 There were no billings for institutional consumption. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs Tk. 3,498,050 55 GAZIPUR Utility Profile Water Utility GAZIPUR POURASHAVA Gazipur, Dhaka, Bangladesh Telephone: 9252386, 01711-680815, Fax: 9256633, E-mail: chmgps@bijoy.net, Contact: A. K. M. Mozammel Haque, Chairman Gazipur Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Gazipur with a total population of 502,000 people in a predominantly urban service area. The utility is part of the local government which provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 2,060 Staff: 11 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 3,023,584 Annual billings: Tk. 4,767,028 Annual collections: Tk. 4,729,845 Debt service for 2006–07: Tk. 126,991 Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 33,566,145 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of the utility’s operations. No skills and training strategy, annual staff appraisal and target setting, and staff reward and recognition program are available. However, the utility has the ability to recruit and dismiss staff within an agreed plan. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 120.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 3.93 Residential fixed component of tariff: 62.2 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 1,000 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under local government control under its oversight function. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 39.2 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 192.84 per month per connection. Water is available 10 hours a day to most users. About 47 percent of the population served has intermittent water supply. Water quality monitoring is inadequate as no residual chlorine test was conducted during the year. There were 170 consumer complaints on water service recorded while 95 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by telephone. The utility gets the views of customers when attending to complaints. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Gazipur Pourashava provides water at 34 lpcd to its consumers for an average of 10 hours per day to only 14.8 percent of the population in its service area. It has the highest UFW of 52 percent among the surveyed utilities, although the absence of meters to measure production and consumption casts doubt on the reliability of this value. However, the very low coverage, which is also the lowest among the utilities, suggests water supply problems made worse by losses of more than half of production. Financial management is mixed with good operating ratio of 0.63 but with an accounts receivable equivalent of 11.9 months. Average tariff is Tk. 4.91/m3, the fourth highest, which is enough for revenues to cover operating expenses. The utility has the lowest staff per 1,000 connections ratio of 5.3, suggesting good utilization of human resources. Overall, the utility is not doing well and needs to improve its performance starting with reducing water losses and expanding to unserved areas. Customers deserve more water and longer distribution hours. While tariffs seem sufficient, bills have to be collected in a timely manner. Performance Gaps to be Addressed The largest gaps in performance are in the very low coverage and per capita consumption largely brought about by high water losses. Reducing UFW to less than 20 percent of production alone can help increase supply to about 100 lpcd, extend distribution hours to 24 hours, and expand services to the unserved areas covering about 85 percent of the total population. However, it will still require additional investments in capital development to reach this level of performance. Reduction of UFW should start with better measures of production and consumption requiring full metering of these parameters. Despite the good operating ratio, the utility has to collect bill payments within two months, which is reasonable for small utilities. Water quality is an area for improvement as monitoring of water quality indicators, such as residual chlorine in the system, is inadequate. 56 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile GAZIPUR GAZIPUR WATER SUPPLY Population: 502,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 5,534 m3/d Distribution pipes 22.0 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 900,000 m3 Residential—PWP 20,000 m3 Commercial/industrial 30,000 m3 Institutional 20,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Water Service Annual Water Use 2,020,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 71,080 Public water points 3,190 Total 74,270 Pipe breaks 95 Complaints 170 Service Indicators Water coverage2 15% Water availability3 10 hours/day Per capita consumption4 34 l/c/d Average tariff 4.91 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Efficiency Indicators Annual Water Billings Tk. 4,767,028 Unaccounted-for water5 52.0% Nonrevenue water6 53.0% Unit production cost 1.50 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 0.63 Accounts receivable 11.9 months Staff/1,000 connections 5.3 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 No data on residual chlorine test was given. 3 About 47 percent of the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 There were no billings for public water points consumption. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs Tk. 3,023,584 57 JESSORE Utility Profile Water Utility JESSORE POURASHAVA Jessore Municipality, Jessore, Bangladesh Telephone: 0421-68681/63469, 01715-144757, Fax: 0421-63899, E-mail: jpscco@bttb.net.bd, Contact: Md Kamruzzaman Chunnu, Chairman Jessore Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Jessore with a total population of 147,000 people in a predominantly urban service area. The utility is part of the local government which provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. While it is part of the local government, the utility’s finances are ring-fenced. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds as well as borrowings from international financing agencies for capital development. However, no debt service was reported for 2006–07. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 8,950 Staff: 73 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 14,017,820 Annual billings: Tk. 14,011,667 Annual collections: Tk. 14,011,667 Debt service for 2006–07: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 400,000,000 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer; and borrowings from international financing agencies Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of the utility’s operations. No skills and training strategy, annual staff appraisal and target setting, and staff reward and recognition program are available. However, the utility has the ability to recruit and dismiss staff within an agreed plan. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 120.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 0.49 Residential fixed component of tariff: 92.0 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 500 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under local government control under its oversight function. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 26.1 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 130.46 per month per connection. Water is available nine hours a day to most users. No data on population served having intermittent water supply were given. Water quality monitoring is inadequate as no residual chlorine test was conducted during the year. There were 1,215 consumer complaints on water service recorded while 1,150 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by telephone. The utility gets the views of customers by letter, telephone, and when attending to complaints. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Jessore Pourashava provides water at 72 lpcd to its consumers for an average of nine hours per day to 68.0 percent of the population in its service area. UFW of 28.2 percent is higher than the average for Bangladesh utilities. However, none of its service connections and production sources are metered, making the UFW an estimate at best. Operating ratio is 1.0 and accounts receivable equivalent is 8.6 months. Average tariff of Tk. 5.00/m3 is the third highest. Revenues are just enough to cover operating expenses but collection period should be reduced. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 8.2 is the fifth lowest, lower than average among the utilities. Customer satisfaction needs improvement by increasing water availability, per capita consumption, and coverage. Tariffs increase should bring revenues to a level to cover O&M expenses and fund expansion and service improvements. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Performance gaps are in customer satisfaction and financial management. The amount of water supplied to consumers should be increased to about 100 lpcd unless there are other sources of water for domestic use such as wells with handpumps. It is almost sure that none of the consumers have continuous supply so that availability needs to be increased up to 24 hours. Services should be expanded to one-third of the population currently not served. Efficient utilities should cover operating and expansion costs with appropriate tariffs. Operating ratio should be brought to about 0.75 or lower by raising tariffs or reducing costs. More than half of O&M costs go to staff salaries and remuneration. While reduction of staff is an option, it may be better to develop human resources through skills training and proper redeployment to increase productivity. 58 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile JESSORE JESSORE WATER SUPPLY Population: 147,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 10,685 m3/d Distribution pipes 122.0 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 2,550,000 m3 Residential—PWP 90,000 m3 Commercial/industrial 130,000 m3 Institutional 30,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Annual Water Use Water Service 3,900,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 78,000 Public water points 22,000 Total 100,000 Pipe breaks 1,150 Complaints 1,215 Service Indicators Water coverage2 68% Water availability3 9 hours/day Per capita consumption4 72 l/c/d Average tariff 5.00 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Annual Water Billings Efficiency Indicators Tk. 14,011,667 Unaccounted-for water5 28.2% Nonrevenue water6 30.5% Unit production cost 3.59 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 1.00 Accounts receivable 8.6 months Staff/1,000 connections 8.2 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 No data on residual chlorine test was given. 3 No data on population with intermittent supply was given. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 There were no billings for public water points consumption. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs Tk. 14,017,820 59 MANIKGANJ Utility Profile Water Utility MANIKGANJ POURASHAVA Manikganj Municipality, Dhaka, Bangladesh Telephone: 0651-61403, Fax: none, E-mail: none, Contact: Mr. Sudeb Saha, Chairman Manikganj Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Manikganj with a total population of 58,060 people in a predominantly urban service area. The utility is part of the local government which provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. While it is part of the local government, the utility’s finances are ring-fenced. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 3,200 Staff: 31 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 6,080,896 Annual billings: Tk. 6,485,791 Annual collections: Tk. 3,810,402 Debt service for 2006–07: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 3,000,000 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of the utility’s operations. No skills and training strategy, annual staff appraisal and target setting, and staff reward and recognition program are available. However, the utility has the ability to recruit and dismiss staff within an agreed plan. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 110.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 1.95 Residential fixed component of tariff: 65.1 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 300 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under local government control under its oversight function. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 60.4 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 168.90 per month per connection. Water is available 20 hours a day to most users. All of the population served have intermittent water supply. Water quality monitoring is inadequate with only two residual chlorine tests conducted during the year. Both samples failed the test. There were 700 consumer complaints on water service recorded while 300 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter or telephone. The utility gets the views of customers when attending to complaints. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Manikganj Pourashava provides water at 264 lpcd to its consumers for an average of 20 hours per day to only 36.2 percent of the population in its service area. UFW is the third lowest at 7.2 percent but this estimate is doubtful since only 37.5 percent of the connections are metered and production sources are not fully metered or not at all. Operating ratio is 0.94 and accounts receivable equivalent is 8.4 months which is too long to collect bill payments. Average tariff of Tk. 2.80/m3 is the third lowest and it is hardly enough to cover operating expenses. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 9.7 is higher than average and high compared to better performing utilities in Asia. Customer satisfaction is satisfactory except for the low coverage. Water losses are low but need further investigation in the absence of metering of both production and consumption. However, consumption is way too high and could be wasteful. Billing and collection needs improvement. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Reducing per capita consumption among present customers could be one way of providing water to the remaining 64 percent of the population that is not currently served by the utility. This can be done through water conservation campaigns and also by increasing tariffs to manage demand. The low tariff is one reason for the high consumption. Increasing tariff can also improve the utility’s operating ratio with additional revenues to cover operating costs comfortably. The collection period can be reduced by improving billing and collection through the use of known best practices for getting consumers to pay their bills on time. Efficient utilities should not take more than two or three months to collect bill payments. While water availability is the second highest, the utility should strive to increase this further to 24 hours. Staff productivity should be improved through training and capacity building, which is currently absent. Water quality should be monitored on a regular basis and as frequently as the law requires. 60 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile MANIKGANJ MANIKGANJ WATER SUPPLY Population: 58,0601 Production/Distribution Average daily production 6,849 m3/d Distribution pipes 72.0 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 2,020,000 m3 Residential—PWP Nil Commercial/industrial 200,000 m3 Institutional 100,000 m3 Bulk supply Nil Annual Water Use Water Service 2,500,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 19,500 Public water points 1,500 Total 21,000 Pipe breaks 300 Complaints 700 Service Indicators Water coverage2 36% Water availability3 20 hours/day Per capita consumption4 264 l/c/d Average tariff 2.80 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Efficiency Indicators Annual Water Billings Tk. 6,485,791 Unaccounted-for water5 7.2% Nonrevenue water6 7.2% Unit production cost 2.43 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 0.94 Accounts receivable 8.4 months Staff/1,000 connections 9.7 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 The two samples taken for residual chlorine were reported to have failed the test. 3 All the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 Free water from public water taps may not have been recorded. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs Tk. 6,080,896 61 NARSINGDI Utility Profile Water Utility NARSINGDI POURASHAVA Narsingdi Municipality, Dhaka, Bangladesh Telephone: 0628-63154, 01713-514328, Fax: none, E-mail: none, Contact: Mohammed Lokman Hossain, Chairman Narsingdi Pourashava has a water department that is responsible for providing water supply services to the municipality of Narsingdi with a total population of 32,060 people in a predominantly urban service area. An independent service and price regulator provides oversight on the utility’s service provision and tariff setting. While it is part of the local government, the utility’s finances are ring-fenced. It depends on grants and government transfer for funds for capital development. Planning is done on a year-to-year basis together with budget setting. General Data about Water Utility Water connections: 2,250 Staff: 19 Annual O&M costs: Tk. 5,278,951 Annual billings: Tk. 3,695,460 Annual collections: Tk. 7,019,526 Debt service for 2006–07: Nil Gross fixed asset value: Tk. 169,000,000 Source of investment funds: Grants or government transfer Management and Governance There is no reported private sector involvement in any of the utility’s operations. No skills and training strategy, annual staff appraisal and target setting, and staff reward and recognition program are available. The utility does not have the ability to recruit and dismiss staff. Tariff and Finance Fixed charge/month for residential customers: Tk. 120.00 Ratio of industrial to residential tariff: 0.71 Residential fixed component of tariff: 87.7 percent Cost of new residential connection: Tk. 500 Notes: 1. Approval of tariff is under an independent service and price regulator. 2. New connection fee is paid prior to connection. Consumer Service Average monthly water consumption is about 38.1 m3 per connection. The water bill averages Tk. 136.87 per month per connection. Water is available seven hours a day to most users. All of the population served has intermittent water supply. Water quality monitoring is inadequate with no residual chlorine test conducted during the year. There were 450 consumer complaints on water service recorded while only 13 pipe breaks were repaired in 2006–07. Consumers can complain in person at the utility office or by letter or telephone. The utility gets the views of customers when attending to complaints brought out through these means. The utility does not have any provision to allow payment of connection charges over a period of several months. Performance Highlights Narsingdi Pourashava provides water at 113 lpcd to its consumers for an average of only seven hours per day to 70.3 percent of the population in its service area. UFW of 25.4 percent is just above average. None of the connections and production sources are metered, making the water loss value unreliable and doubtful. Financial management is poor with operating ratio at 1.43 being the second highest and accounts receivable equivalent of 55.6 months, the highest among the utilities. Average tariff of Tk. 3.59/m3 is the fourth lowest and even lower than the unit production cost, hence the high operating ratio with revenues insufficient to cover operating expenses. Staff per 1,000 connections ratio at 8.4 is lower than the average. While the utility provides sufficient water to its consumers, operating hours should be increased. Efforts must be taken to improve collection and increase revenues. Performance Gaps to be Addressed Priority should be given to collecting the large arrears. Revenue collection efficiency of 190 percent shows that revenue collection last year includes part of the arrears accumulated over the years. Tariffs are too low to cover operating cost. Furthermore, the operating ratio could be higher than 1.43 since the reported O&M costs only includes staff salaries and electrical power costs. Shortfall in revenues, most probably, is covered from the local government budget. There is clearly a need to review the current tariff rates for possible increase to appropriate levels sufficient to cover operating expenses and expand service to the unserved 30 percent of the population. Water availability should be increased to 24 hours not just to satisfy the utility’s customers but also to protect them from water contamination. Water quality monitoring should also be improved in the absence of any residual chlorine test conducted in 2006–07. Full metering of production sources and all connections is necessary in reducing UFW further. 62 Bangladesh Water Utilities Data Book, 2006–07: Benchmarking for Improving Water Supply Delivery Area Profile NARSINGDI NARSINGDI WATER SUPPLY Population: 32,0001 Production/Distribution Average daily production 3,781 m3/d Distribution pipes 52.7 km Annual consumption Residential—direct 890,000 m3 Residential—PWP 40,000 m3 Commercial/industrial 100,000 m3 Institutional Nil Bulk supply Nil Annual Water Use Water Service 1,380,000 m3 Population served Direct/shared taps 22,100 Public water points 400 Total 22,500 Pipe breaks 13 Complaints 450 Service Indicators Water coverage2 70% Water availability3 7 hours/day Per capita consumption4 113 l/c/d Average tariff 3.59 Tk./m3 Sewerage coverage Nil Efficiency Indicators Annual Water Billings Unaccounted-for water5 25.4% Tk. 3,695,460 Nonrevenue water6 28.3% Unit production cost7 3.83 Tk./m3 Operating ratio 1.43 Accounts receivable 55.6 months Staff/1,000 connections 8.4 Notes: 1 The population is for the total area of responsibility. 2 No data on residual chlorine test was given. 3 All the population served has intermittent supply. 4 This is for residential consumption from direct supply, shared taps, and public water taps. 5 None of the connections are metered. This is based on estimated values. 6 There were no billings for public water points consumption. 7 These were the only cost components given for the total O&M cost. Data as of 2006-07. Annual O&M Costs7 Tk. 5,278,951 63 Water and Sanitation Program– South Asia E 32 Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh Phone: (880-2) 8159001-14 Fax: (880-2) 8159029-30 June 2009 TASK MANAGER: Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, WSP–South Asia WSP MISSION: To help the poor gain sustained access EDITORS: to water and sanitation services. Zakir Hossain, Consultant, WSP–South Asia; Cesar E. Yñiguez, Benchmarking Adviser; and Md. Akhtaruzzaman and Abdul Motaleb, Senior Water and WSP FUNDING PARTNERS: Sanitation Specialists, WSP–South Asia The Governments of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, PEER REVIEWED BY: Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Alexander V. Danilenko, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, WSP, IB–Net; Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Dennis D. Mwanza, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, WSP–Africa; and Kingdom, the United States of America; the Leila H. Elvas, Consultant, WSP–East Asia and the Pacific United Nations Development Programme, The World Bank, and the Bill and CONTRIBUTIONS BY: Melinda Gates Foundation. Mark Ellery, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, WSP–South Asia; AusAID provides WSP-SA Masroor Ahmed, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, WSP–South Asia; programmatic support. Vandana Bhatnagar, Financial Specialist, WSP–South Asia; Vandana Mehra, Regional Communication Specialist, WSP–South Asia; and Chris Heymans, Editor: Anjali Sen Gupta Created by: Write Media Regional Team Leader, WSP–South Asia