How municipalities can win back the Pakistani taxpayer's trust

Posted on 20 February 2015 at 22:21

The vicious cycle of taxpayers’ lack of trust in municipal authorities is behind the slow, yet very predictable, collapse of municipal services across Pakistan. —File

What can Bahria Town deliver that the entire establishment of Rawalpindi’s Cantonment Board cannot?

Water for one.

And not just the water, but also other necessary municipal services namely solid waste collection, clean and well-lit streets, planned urban development, and security.

The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) is responsible to supply water to all residents, but that seems not to be the case. The water-starved residents grudgingly purchase water from private suppliers who deliver a tank of 6,000 litres for 800 to 1200 rupees. A family of six persons in a seven marla residential unit can gulp a tank in a week, thus ending up with a monthly water bill of up to 4,800 rupees.

A few weeks spent in the Rawalpindi Cantonment earlier this year helped me understand the disconnect between the residents’ (taxpayers) expectations and an administration that lacks imagination and initiative.

Newspaper reports suggest that the RCB collects 70 million rupees in water service charges, but spends 210 million in supplying water, which many residents find insufficient or completely lacking. The RCB administration would like to increase water service charges to recover delivery costs.

A 1998 Census revealed that access to potable water in the Rawalpindi Cantonment was far worse than that in areas served by the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation.