NCRI – The price of water is set to rise in Iran in a bid to reduce demand and preserve dwindling ground supplies, a government official has said.
Alireza Daemi, deputy head of water and waste water department of energy ministry said people were currently being undercharged and prices must go up.
He told the state-run Fars news agency: “While the cost of drinking water is about 5,900 Rials per cubic meter, distribution and sales prices are less than half the actual price.
“The cost of drinking water in the current year is about 5,900 rials per cubic meter and the cost of agricultural water 800 rials per cubic meter. These are provided at one tenth of the actual price to farmers.”
He added: “Also, drinking water is currently distributed at less than half of the actual price. As the result of a decade drought, farmers and people turned to the underground water supply, but the situation of underground water reservoirs is fragile.
“There is a dynamic volume which can be drawn and there is a static volume which must not be drawn because it creates sinking ground and sink holes. It has happened now south of Tehran, and in Isfahan, Kerman and Yazd provinces.
“Raising the price of water should be carried out step by step and in accordance with people’s economic circumstances. The reason for the delay in its implementation is the concern that it limits the purchasing power. But price rises will take place cautiously and in accordance with the law.”
Water inflation is latest in a series of punishing price rises in the regime this year.
On April 21, the cost of meat soared by 60 per cent – amid separate Iranian Central Bank figures showing the overall cost of food had risen by 400 per cent in seven years in the regime.
Senior cleric Ahmad Jannati – the Chairman of Guardian Council and a close ally of Supreme Leader – admitted on March 12 that the high prices were ‘back-breaking’ but said they were not only due to sanctions but also to flawed economic policies.
The price hikes have triggered warnings among some officials that Iran’s poorest people could stage nationwide protests at the rocketing cost of food, especially during the forthcoming presidential election.
