Friday 26 / July / 2024
Muscat: A number of citizens have hailed His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik’s directives reducing water connection fees for residential units from OMR 700 to OMR200.
The Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR) said that the directives of His Majesty the Sultan to cut down the fees paid for the drinking water service connection to residential units helped ease the burden on citizens and reflected his Royal attention to provide basic public services and achieve sustainable development. The APSR pointed out that the decision will begin to be implemented from 1 February 2024.
It added that water connection fees for residential units have been cut down from OMR700 to OMR200.
All the subscribers who have already paid OMR200, will not be charged further, said the APSR, noting that sums higher than OMR200 that had been paid before the Royal directives, would not be reimbursed.
It added that the subscribers who have not paid OMR200 can choose between paying by the instalments or one-time payment of the outstanding balance.
Younis Al-Mandhari, representative of the state of Suwaiq in the Shura Council, said: “There is no doubt that ensuring the delivery of basic services to citizens in various parts of the Sultanate is one of the priorities that the government is working on, and we know that these services come at a cost. Though citizens always look forward to obtaining these services easily and without incurring any financial cost, that would become a burden on the national economy.”
Al-Mandhari added: “Since the fees for delivering water service to residential buildings were raised to OMR700, citizens have been constantly demanding a reduction in fees. The Shura Council also activated a number of parliamentary tools and we hosted those concerned with providing this service in the council, and council members had also raised demands to reduce the hiked fees. Finally, the Council of Ministers decided to reduce fees.
Al-Mandhari added: “We are optimistic that electricity connection fees will also be reduced in the coming days, as electricity and water services are considered the necessities for the citizens’ livelihood. We look forward to citizens who don’t have to pay higher amounts in order to obtain them.”
Reducing the costs
Another Omani citizen Abdulmunim Abdullah said: “The decision is very important and will contribute to reducing the costs incurred by citizens in order to utilise the service.
“Due to our inability to pay the amount of OMR700 in one go, we used to pay in instalments of over 70 months. The installment of OMR10 is added to the monthly bill, but with the value of the fees reduced to OMR200, citizens will be able to pay it easily,” he added.
