No water tax increment-WARMA
BY SIMON MUNTEMBA
There is no an upward revision of water tax, the Water Re- sources Management Authority (WARMA) has clarified.
WARMA Director General, Kenneth Nyundu said there was no increment to fees that has been proposed by for permits currently being obtained to drill domestic boreholes.
Mr Nyundu also clarified that the authority does not charge water user fees to individual domestic boreholes or non-commercial boreholes.
He said in a statement that contrary to what was reported, there was proposed water tax raise.
Mr Nyundu said the fees and charges that were referred to in the presentation to Minister of Water Development Mike Mposha relate to charges and fees applicable to commercial water users abstracting water from either groundwater or rivers for commercial purposes such as agriculture, hydro- power and industry.
Mr Nyundu explained that during the presentation, he merely made an observation that the current fees and charges applicable to commercial water users in Zambia were lowest in comparison to what other countries in the re- gion are charging.
He said the fees were not cost reflective as they did not meet the cost of regulating, monitoring commercial water users to ensure other domestic water users were not disad- vantaged.
He said Zambia was currently charging K3.80 per 100,000 litres of water for commercial use while the next lowest country in the region WAS charging K13.40 per 100,000 li- tres of water. Mr Nyundu observed that the current fees and charges may in future needed to be reviewed to ensure effec- tive management of water resources to avoid disadvantaging communities.
He further said that WARMA regulates the drilling of bore- holes through the issuance of permits.
