Single bill for waste collection fees, power from April
It has now been decided that the fees fixed by WAMCO for services provided in the Male area will be included in the STELCO bill.
By
Mariyam Umna Ismail
Charges levied on waste collection services will be included in the electricity bill from next month, the environment ministry announced on Thursday.
WAMCO is providing waste collection services in the Male area and some of the customers availing the service are not paying their bills. To solve the problem, there has been talk of including waste collection fee in water or electricity bills for quite some time now.
Due to non-payment of dues to WAMCO:
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The company's cash flow is limited and some of the equipment used to provide services is not properly repaired and unusable
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The cost of resolving this increases, making it more challenging to collect and manage the waste collection
In a statement issued after discussions between the Environment Ministry and WAMCO to resolve the issue, the ministry said, that the discussions have shown that the most effective solution to the problem can be achieved only after the fee fixed for the services provided by WAMCO is fully received. Thus:
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A total of 53,690 households have to pay fees in Male area
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Around 20,000 households are paying fees regularly
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The fee can be attained easiest by charging it as included in the bill of another public utility service
"Therefore, it has now been decided that the fees fixed by WAMCO for services provided in the Male area will be included in the State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) Bill," the ministry said.
"In order to bring to the notice of all the stakeholders, we have allowed WAMCO to collect the fee for waste management services provided by WAMCO in the Male area with effect from April 1, 2023, in accordance with the provisions of the STELCO Bill."
The ministry also said:
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There will be no change in the fee charged directly from WAMCO's services in the capital
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Once such a fee is levied, even if people don't register for WAMCO's services, WAMCO will continue to collect waste from all households as per rules; this will not include large household waste (bulky waste)
