AfricaPress-Tanzania: GOVERNMENT is conducting an assessment on the possibility of setting a uniform cost of connecting water in rural areas in the country, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has said.
This comes after the success of the rural electrification programme of the Rural Energy Agency (REA) at a uniform cost of 27,000 per household.
Mr Majaliwa disclosed this in Parliament on Thursday as he was responding to a question from Vunjo MP Dr Charles Kimei on the need for the government to slash the cost of connecting water services in rural areas.
Dr Kimei claimed that in some parts of the country the cost of connecting water in the household stands between 350,000/- and 600,000/-, an amount which is beyond the reach of many people.
“Due to the high cost of connecting the water service to rural dwellers, most villagers have decided to use water from the streams,” he said.
Going forward, the lawmaker asked for the possibility of the government, through the Ministry of Water and the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA), to apply the modality used by REA in lowering the cost of connecting the service at uniform charges in all villages.
Responding, the Prime Minister acknowledged being aware of the variance in the cost of connecting water infrastructure in households and that the Ministry of Water is working on it.
“The Ministry of Water is working on it and upon completion of the assessment, it will issue an official communication that will announce the cost of connecting water to all households in the country,” he said.
He assured the government continued efforts to increase the supply and accessibility of the service in the country, despite the challenges of the availability of reliable water sources.
He said there is a challenge on the distance from the source to the final consumer, as a result the variance in the cost of connecting water to the villagers.
“Despite the challenge, the government, through water authorities, has set the normal charges for all people to access water service,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has said that the government is continuing to improve the welfare of employees, but it would not announce in public the salary increments to avoid raising the cost of living.
He said experience shows that whenever the government announces salary increments for civil servants, automatically the cost of living increases as businesspeople raise the cost of their products and services.
He said apart from salary increments, there are multiple ways of improving workers’ welfare such as promotions and tax cuts from their salaries.
“This approach is better than adding some 20,000/- or 30,000/- in their salaries. These options increase the take home package of the employee. We don’t want to affect the cost of living for people who aren’t in public service,” he told the Parliament as he was answering a question from Konde MP, Khatibu Said Haji.
Mr Haji had asked about government’s commitment on implementing the CCM Election Manifesto to improve the welfare of civil servants by increasing their monthly salaries.
Responding, Mr Majaliwa said the government is determined to keep improving the welfare of the civil servants in a way that won’t affect the living standard of those in the private sector.
“There are people working in farming, fishing and many other economic activities. There’s no single platform that the government can increase their salaries; that is why the decisions we are taking aim at balancing the situation,” he emphasized.
He maintained that since the welfare of employees is not only salaries, the government continues to take underground initiatives in the course of improving their living standard.
“The government lowered the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) deductions to single digit, and we are continuing to take other initiatives that are beyond salary increment for the greater interest of the working class,” he assured.
He acknowledged the role and efforts by the civil servants on national development, asking them to continue working hard as the government is working on their affairs.
