Minbya municipality threatens to cut off water supply as bills go unpaid

By DMG 11 Apr 2022

DMG Newsroom
11 April 2022,Sittwe 

The Minbya Township municipality has threatened to cut off water supply in the town after nearly 90 percent of town residents failed to pay their water bills, some for more than three months. 

Only about 100 households of the 1,000 homes connected to the municipal tap water are paying their water bills, said a municipal officer who warned that the municipality will halt water supply if the delinquent households do not pay up. 

“People who have full access to water haven’t paid bills. And people who only have limited access to water also haven’t paid bills,” said the municipal official. “Perhaps they don’t pay bills because they no longer have full access to water like they did before. The water supply will be halted if they don’t pay bills.” 

Minbya is supplied with water from the Phalaung Pyin reservoir, and the municipality currently runs the local pumping station for around five hours per day, a process that consumes about 10 gallons of fuel, according to the municipality. 

The reservoir holds enough water to supply all eight wards in Minbya, but the cash-strapped township municipality is reluctant to operate the pumping station for longer hours given the high price of fuel currently. 

The municipality has run up a debt of K4 million to fuel suppliers because most residents have not paid their bills, said the municipal officer, who added that the local government also has not received a budget allocation from the Arakan State military council to pay for fuel costs. 

The administrator of Okkar Pyan ward, U Nyi Daung Che, said residents there have not paid water bills because the municipality does not consistently supply water, requiring them to buy from private suppliers. 

“We don’t pay bills because they [municipal staff] didn’t come and collect, and also because they don’t supply water regularly. We haven’t paid bills for three months,” he said. 

Ma Phyu Phyu Htay from Zay Haung Ward said: “Water is supplied only three days per week in our ward, and if this continues, we may not pay the bills. We have several reservoirs in our town, but still face water shortages annually. We want to seriously ask the government to solve this.” 

Lakes in the town that are used to store rainwater are also drying up, and are likely to run out next month, say residents. There are three reservoirs and several lakes in and around Minbya town, but locals face water shortages every year during the dry summer months. 

U Than Tun, the resources minister for the Arakan State military council, said: “The Arakan State municipality has dispatched a technical engineer to help with water supply in Minbya. He will help solve technical difficulties.”