Mira Bhayandar Civic Body Hikes Water Tax by 23-30% After 5 Years

For the first time in five years, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has announced to increase its water tax tariff.

It has come to light that this will facilitate 24x7 water supply through the ambitious Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme and will permanently end water woes faced by the Mira-Bhayandar residents.

The hike will come into effect from May this year. With charges being hiked by ₹3 (23%) and ₹15 (30%), residential and commercial users will have to pay ₹16 and ₹65 as per the new tariff respectively.

At present, the water supply department charges ₹13 for every 1,000 litres of water for residential usage and ₹50 for every 1,000 litres of water for commercial and industrial usage.

In addition, the introduction of 10 per cent water benefit tax will be incorporated in the basic property tax structure. The last hike was done in 2018. 

Justifying the hike, MBMC chief stated that the expenditures like electricity, administrative and maintenance charges have hit the roof in the past five year.

Under this project, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) will provide bulk water supply amounting 403 MLD, which will be divided between Mira Bhayandar and Vasai-Virar in a proportion of 218 MLD and 185 MLD, respectively.

Even as MMRDA will lift and channelise the water to its doorstep, the civic body has to shoulder the responsibility of overhauling the entire pipework networking system. This will cost the MBMC a sum of ₹516.78 crore.

It is pertinent to note that every year the water department faces loss of crores of rupees. The water department had incurred a loss of INR 18 crore in 2020, INR 12 crore in 2021 and INR 13 crore in 2022.

As per the funding pattern, the Centre and state government will extend financial grant of INR 172.24 crore (33.33%) and INR 189.50 crore (36.67%) respectively, while the remaining expense of INR 155.04 crore (30%) will be borne by the MBMC.

The twin city is currently supplied with 115 MLD and 80 MLD of water by MIDC and STEM authority respectively. A total of 195 MLD of water is supplied daily in the municipal area. The city is supplied with water at an average interval of 24 to 30 hours.

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