Need to review and adjust domestic water prices in Hoa Binh town (Tuong Duong)

(Baonghean) - Recently, in Hoa Binh Town and Chan and Phong villages of Thach Giam commune (Tuong Duong), the high price of tap water has caused outrage among the people and agencies located in the area...

Many households along National Highway 7, Hoa Binh Town section, expressed their disagreement when the Water Plant implemented a new collection rate of 5,800 VND/m3 of domestic water for the first 10m3, accumulating for each subsequent 10m3. Like Mr. NVP (at his request, we cannot mention his full name - PV) because he had to pay twice as much for domestic water as before, he was upset: "It's completely unreasonable. Here, the entire water infrastructure is given away by the Luxembourg Government for free, the source water is taken from the mountains, only through rough filtration and then supplied to the people through a self-flowing pipeline system. The water plant only spends a small amount of money on maintenance, repair, filtration chemicals and care and protection, why is the water price in Tuong Duong equal to Vinh City? Previously, when the water price was 2,500 VND/m3, my family paid about 200 - 350 thousand VND. Now the water price is 5,800 VND, calculated progressively according to the frame of 10m3 at a time, each month I have to pay over 600 thousand VND". According to Mr. NVP, because of dissatisfaction, the people of the town and 2 villages of Thach Giam commune appealed to the town, commune, and district authorities to request the province to direct the water company to adjust...

Reservoir system of Hoa Binh Town Water Plant.

According to the current water price, Tuong Duong District Hospital will have to pay 30 - 40 million VND for water each month. According to Mr. Luong Van Phung - Director of the Hospital, the domestic water here is taken from the water pipe to the district water station, without being treated. Therefore, the water is brought to the tank, the hospital has to buy chemicals to treat it, and then use it. "Previously, the monthly water bill was about 2.8 - 3 million VND. When the new water price was announced, the water station staff came to calculate the price at over 8,000 VND/m3. The hospital asked them to reduce it by 10%, to over 7,000 VND/m3. Currently, Tuong Duong Hospital has not paid for the water...".

Faced with the issue of high water prices causing public outrage, the People's Council and People's Committee of Hoa Binh Town reported to the District People's Committee. Ms. Luong Thi Thanh Ngoc - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoa Binh Town said that the public outrage is legitimate and needs to be addressed by competent authorities. Regarding her personal feelings, Ms. Ngoc said: "My family consists of 2 families, 9 people sharing one water meter. Previously, it cost about 100,000 VND per month, now it costs 250,000 - 300,000 VND. Many households in the town now have to pay 500,000 - 600,000 VND/month, some have to pay up to 1 million VND. No one agrees to calculate water prices like that. The water supply project is project money, not the water company. The water does not have to be filtered to meet standards, nor does it have to be operated, while people's lives are still difficult...".

Working with the Department of Industry and Trade of Tuong Duong district, it is known that on July 8, 2014, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district issued Official Letter No. 619/UBND-CT to the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Finance requesting to review the consumption price of clean water products in Hoa Binh town and 2 villages in Thach Giam commune. According to Official Letter 619, after the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 39/2014/QD-UBND dated June 20, 2014 on regulating the consumption price of clean water products, the people of Hoa Binh town had many disagreements, saying that the regulated price was not appropriate. Also in Official Letter 619, it is stated that the Hoa Binh Water Plant was completed and put into use in December 2006, with non-refundable funding from the Western Nghe An Rural Development Project VIE/208, with a capacity of 800m3/day and night. The water source is supplied by the self-flowing method, with a simple treatment system, and is treated biologically by chlorine injection. Hoa Binh Water Plant supplies water to 843 households in the town, 360 households in Thach Giam commune and 38 agencies, administrative units, hospitals, schools... In March 2012, Hoa Binh Water Plant was handed over to Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited according to Decision No. 1947/QD-UBND dated June 2, 2011 of the Provincial People's Committee. Since then, Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited has invested an additional 200 million VND to install additional alum injection systems, chlorination systems and renovate the sedimentation tank. The product consumption price before Decision No. 39 of the Provincial People's Committee was calculated according to Decision No. 1051/QD-UBND dated December 25, 2006 of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, 2,500 VND/m3 for households and agencies in the town; 1,500 VND/m3 for households in Thach Giam commune.

People in Phong village, Thach Giam commune use natural water from Hoa Binh town water plant.

And because people have opinions that Nghe An Water Supply Company Limited does not have to calculate asset depreciation; operates by self-flowing method; simple, manual water treatment technology; water is supplied to the town area, a part of poor people in Thach Giam commune of poor district in region 3, so Tuong Duong District People's Committee requested the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Finance to "study and consider to effectively implement the management and exploitation of Hoa Binh Town Water Plant".

Responding to the proposal of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, in Official Dispatch No. 2404 dated August 24, the Department of Finance stated that the Hoa Binh Town Water Plant had been handed over to Nghe An Water Supply One Member Co., Ltd. This company "is responsible for investing in items serving the production of clean water that meet the standards and technical and economic norms issued by competent authorities and performing cost accounting and asset depreciation for all capital sources to ensure reinvestment and maintain production and business activities according to the Law on Enterprises. The consumption price of clean water products supplied by Nghe An Water Supply One Member Co., Ltd. must comply with the consumption price of clean water products prescribed in Decision 39/2014/QD-UBND dated June 20, 2014 of the Provincial People's Committee. Thus, households in Hoa Binh Town, Tuong Duong District consuming clean water products supplied by Nghe An Water Supply One Member Co., Ltd. must comply with Decision No. 39...". According to the assessment of the staff of the Tuong Duong Department of Industry and Trade, the Department of Finance issued an official dispatch, but did not correctly assess the actual situation.

Meeting with the staff of Hoa Binh Town Water Plant, they were not very happy with the price adjustment, because collecting water bills was difficult and always received protests from the people. At the place where the water tank was located on the top of a high hill (in Phong village, Thach Giam commune), Mr. Tran Minh Su - Station Chief said that water was taken from Chi stream through a self-flowing system. After that, it was processed and then sent to the users through the self-flowing system. "I think the people's opinions are not wrong. However, the price adjustment is decided by the province, we are just the ones who implement it. We tell the users, if there is anything, they should make a recommendation for consideration. Now we temporarily collect, if there is an adjustment later, we will recalculate. Currently, the collection situation is very difficult, only less than half of the water users have paid. However, we do not cut off their domestic water, we only ask for confirmation, state the reason and summarize and report regularly for the company to know...", Mr. Su said.

According to Circular 88/2012/TT-BTC dated May 28, 2012 of the Ministry of Finance on promulgating the price framework for domestic water consumption, the minimum price of clean water in rural areas is 2,000 VND/m3, the maximum is 11,000 VND/m3; Study Joint Circular No. 75/2012/TTLT-BTC-BXD-BNNPTNT dated May 15, 2012 on Guiding principles, methods of determining and authority to decide on clean water consumption prices in urban areas, industrial parks and rural areas (the Circular that the Department of Finance cited in Official Dispatch No. 2404). At Point 2, Article 9, Chapter IV (Authority to decide on clean water prices) states: "...The Provincial People's Committee shall provide guidance on management authority, authority to regulate water prices and specific water prices for clean water works, water prices at small-scale water supply works managed by the community, water prices in rural areas agreed upon by the residential community to invest in production and business".

With the provisions of Circular No. 88, Joint Circular No. 75 of the Ministry of Finance, and with what has been heard and seen, it is clear that the people of Hoa Binh Town and the two communes of Thach Giam sharing the same water price with the people of urban areas is unreasonable. This unreasonableness needs to be considered and adjusted by the competent authority.

Nhat Lan