ADHIKARIGANMA RWSS PROJECT AND CBO INTERGRATION
1. Background
Adhikarigama Integrated water supply scheme in Kandy district is the largest multi-village rural water supply scheme implemented under 2nd CWSSP. Project areas and the coverage of the proposed project are indicted below:
No / Name of GND / Households1 / Adhikarigama / 425
2 / Idama-landa / 353
3 / Karalliyadda (175)- Bogahalanda (225) / 400
4 / Udagama (148)- Maliyadda (120) / 248
5 / Ingurukatuwa / 167
6 / Welikada / 293
7 / Ambewela / 242
Total / 2,148
Seven GNDs are fully covered under this project and small portions of Boghalanda and Maliyadda GNDs are also covered with the GNDs of Karaliyadda and Maliyadda.
According to the final project proposal submitted to the RWSS Unit in the Central Province, the total estimated construction cost is Rs.56.25mil. Out of that the project contribution will be Rs.35.79mil. The Provincial Council (PC) of the Central Province and Hanguranketha Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) will provide Rs.2.55milllion each. The beneficiary contribution towards the capital cost is substantial and the total community contributions will be Rs.15.3mil which includes Rs.5.7mil unskilled labour and Rs.9.6mil cash.
In addition, the CBO has also agreed to construct roads to the storage tanks located in the high terrain and intake located in the upper stream of the Belihul-oya River. The estimated value of these constructions is approximately Rs.3 million. Further , with the assistance of the PS, CBO has completed the construction of two roads worth than 03.million to the locations of storage tanks and intake.
Besides that, CBO involvement in cash and material contribution can be assessed through the following achievement gained by CBO.
Cash collected and banked Rs.5.8million
Sand collected at worksites (m3) Rs.1.2million
Rubble at worksites (m3) Rs.0.8million
Transformer has already granted Rs 3.5million
Total Rs.11.3million
2. Implementation and Management Plan of the Water Supply Scheme
According to the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation policy 07 Community Based Organizations (CBOs) have formed in each village at the inception and they have responsible for all the implementation activities of community awareness on water and sanitation, application of good hygiene practice and sanitation construction.
With the finalization of Adikarigama Water Supply Program, all the CBOs together decided to form integrated CBO for project implementation and scheme management as satisfaction of the user community. Hence, CBOs have agreed to establish the following institutional set-up for the project implementation and O&M of the scheme.
3. Institutional Arrangement (Set-up) to Established Integrated CBO
Institutional set up of Adikarigama integrated CBO is given in the figure-1 below. According to this arrangement, existing CBOs formed in each village have transformed into one CBO and it was named as ADIKARIGAMA INTERGRATED CBO . Therewith CBOs who have established and actively involved with the at village based are
1. Establishment of Peoples Company
In order to manage the water supply scheme as a viable venture, the people’s organizations cannot be continued as an ordinary voluntary organization. It should be transformed into a strong institution like People’s Company with appropriate legal status to attend all matters related to the water supply scheme. Also they should be able to come into contracts with other organizations and the consumers on service supply.
Village organizations can be obtained registration with Registrar of Companies under the No 7 of Company Ordinance in 2007. This arrangement ensures the transparency and the accountability of the village level organizations. The company ordinance enforces such organizations to comply with certain rules and regulations, which are important to sustain them as legal entities. After several discussions with the community of Adhikarigama, it has been decided to form Peoples Company for the Management of the proposed water supply scheme. With this arrangement the proposed Company being the maintenance body in Adhikarigama scheme will bound to carrying out all transactions and financial matters in a transparent manner.
However, establishment of Peoples Company in Adhikarigama will be a slow process. It is agreed that without disturbing the present set-up, the CBO will be continued until the last stages of the construction. At the end of construction the new organizational structure will be in place. The consumers will be educated further on the new arrangements through out the construction period.
Chairperson of the company will be elected by the board of directors. This board of directors will be elected by the respective shareholders of the representative villages.
It is assumed that all households (consumers) will automatically be shareholders of the company. Value of a share will be Rs. 10/- and the number of eligible shares per households will be a maximum of 10.
The RWSS Division will provide necessary assistance and guidance to CBO to transform present CBO into a Peoples Company including the preparation of memorandum of article and other necessary documents etc.
2. Technical Capacity and Competency
Sustainability of rural water supply schemes and efficient and effective delivery of services to the consumers will not be ensured unless the peoples company recruits skilled O&M staff. This staff should be possessed with good knowledge and positive attitude in solving all technical issues promptly through out the day. Also, the O&M staff should be equipped with theoretical and practical knowledge in technical matters related to the O&M of water supply systems to solve complicated issues.
Hence, in order to address the capacity issue, Adhikarigama CBO (Adhikarigama People’s Company in future) will hire a mixed-group of staff for O&M activities, a qualified full-time O&M Manager cum Technical Officer to attend complicated issues and ordinary caretakers to attend day to day simple operational activities.
3. Hiring of an O&M Manager cum Technical Officer
The RWSS Unit and the CBO has jointly identified a village youth who is qualified with National Certificate of Technology (NCT) to be employed /assigned as an O&M Manager. At present he is employed as a full time Technical Officer of the Partner Organization (PO) deployed at Adhikarigama scheme. He is competent in technical matters and possesses a good knowledge of the design of the proposed WS scheme. It is expected that he will gain an overall knowledge on the water supply scheme once he involves in construction activities throughout the construction period.
O&M manager will be responsible for all technical matters related to scheme operation as follows.
° Overall O&M activities of the scheme
° Supervise and monitor the caretakers and provide necessary instructions
° Supervise the important component of the water supply system daily
° Inform the Company on the O&M issues and propose appropriate solutions promptly
° Ensure efficient services to consumers and attend all consumer complains promptly.
° Promote water saving among consumers and reduces the operation cost of the scheme
° Take all necessary precautions to operate the scheme as an economically viable venture
° Manage the income and expenditure of the scheme
4. Hiring of Care Takers
It has been estimated that 4 full-time Care-takers are required to assist the O&M Manager for proper maintenance of the scheme. These care takers will be selected form the consumers (beneficiary households) who have actively involved for the construction activities and possess good knowledge of the distribution network and other components of the scheme.
They are mainly responsible on following activities
° Meter reading and reporting to the account clerk to prepare monthly water bills
° Deliver the water bills to consumers and encourage them to pay the bills in time
° Tariff collection form the defaulters
° Keep O&M Manager informed on breakdowns and leakages of the system promptly and take necessary arrangements to rectify the breakdowns
° Attend all leakages promptly even at night
° Vigilant on the safety of distribution network and other component of the scheme
° Prevent illegal connections and inform such issues to the O&M Manager promptly.
° Attend all regular maintenance activities assigned to them by the O&M Manager without fail
5. Hiring of General/ Account Clerk
Full time General/Account Clerk will be hired to assist CBOs in all clerical work including documentation, financial and banking and other correspondence etc. He/She is responsible for the preparation of monthly accounts statements of the revenue of the water supply scheme and submits it to the executive body of the Company. The following are the specific responsibilities of the Clerk
° Update O&M Manager on the revenue and the costs of the maintenance
° Maintain the stock books of stores
° Maintain set of account books
° Maintain the consumer files and update regularly
° Prepare the monthly water bills and ensure the bills are delivered to consumers through care takers
° Prepare the monthly account statement
° Prepare the quarterly account statement and submit it to the executive committee of the Company
6. Tariff Setting and Tariff Collection
RWSS Unit/ Division conducted a community Action Plan (CAP) to finalize the O&M arrangements and tariff setting of the scheme. Tentative tariff has been prepared at the CAP and community consent has been obtained at the general meeting of the community (See Annex-1-Tentative Tariff of Adhikarigama Scheme). The tentative tariff has been formulated by considering the following factors: (i) estimated replacement cost (ii) estimated production cost and (iii) estimated average water consumption.
9.1 Replacement Cost
In general, design horizon (lifetime) of rural water supply schemes is considered as 20 years and replacements of water supply scheme components are calculated on this basis. The total value of structures of Adhikarigama water supply scheme is around 45 million. Therefore, the total replacement cost of the water supply scheme will be around Rs.190, 000/- per month and each consumer have to bare approximately Rs 100/- per month as replacement cost. (45,000,000/240=187,500/2000=93.75)
9.2 Production Cost
Monthly production cost of water has been calculated with the cost of electricity, O&M staff salaries, chemicals, water testing, office rental, stationeries, skilled labour, and administrative matters etc.
It is estimated that the approximate total monthly production cost of water in Adhikarigama will be Rs 612,996/-. According to the estimated monthly water demand of 25,350m3, the production cost of one water unit will be approximately Rs 25/-. This rate is used to prepare a monthly water bill.
9.3 Water consumption
In general, a family of 5 members will use 10 units per month (10,000 liters) for drinking, coking, bathing and washing. This has been used to set the tariff.
9.4 Tariff Setting
As mentioned above monthly tariff of the scheme has been calculated on several assumptions. It is assumed that the price of the electricity, chemicals and salaries of staff will stable for one year and family of 5 will use 10 unit of water per month.
Accordingly, tariff has been fixed as follows. Tariff = Fixed charge + estimated average consumption. (Rs. 375.00 = 100.00 + (5*25+5*30)
This tariff will be revised after 3 months of scheme operation.
9.5 Payment of Tariff
Three-fold water bill will be issued to consumers every month. Payment of tariff will be made directly to the bank and all consumers will be educated in this regard. In addition all consumers will be encouraged through care takers to pay their monthly water bills in time. Non payment of monthly tariff for 2 months will be subjected to the disconnection of water supply.
7. PS Role in O&M of the Scheme
According to the PS Act in 1979 the PSs are given a mandate to provide water supply and sanitation facilities to the people living in their administrative areas. In addition, the by-laws introduced by the Ministry of Local Government regarding the PS role in assisting CBOs in RWS scheme operation, the Hanguranketha PS will be able to assist the proposed Peoples Company in numerous ways. The project will convince PS, Hanguranketha to embrace the by-laws and assist the Company in O&M especially in disconnection of services, disputes and other political interferences.
The PS assistance will be sought for the following:
° Introduce the environmental conservation plan for the commanding area of the scheme and the immediate catchment areas of the water source
° Conduct water source protection and conservation campaign/activities to minimize the risks of water pollution (vegetable growing is the predominant economic activity in the area and excessive use of chemical and fertilizer is common in the area)
° Declare the high risk areas of the water scheme and prevent people from using them for agriculture activities and settlements
° Conflict resolution during scheme management
° Maintenance of roads constructed by CBOs to reach intakes and storage tanks as they became public roads after the construction
Annex: 1
Tentative Monthly Tariff –Adikarigama Water supply Scheme
1. Fixed charges
Description / Units / Amount Rs.Fixed charges to cover replacement costs / 190,000.00
No. of Households / 2,000 / 190,000.00/2000
Per household cost / 95.00
Fixed charge per household / 100.00
2. Production cost.
No. / Description (Item) / Amount Rs.1 / Care Takers - 04 (Rs. 8000.00) / = / 32,000.00
2 / Technical Officer - 01 / = / 15,000.00
3 / Office clerk / = / 8,000.00
4 / Chemicals / = / 20,000.00
5 / Water testing / = / 500.00
6 / Stationeries / = / 10,000.00
7 / Office rental / = / 2,000.00
8 / Administrative cost / = / 2,000.00
9 / Minor repairs / = / 5,000.00
10 / Skill labour / = / 5,000.00
11 / Electricity bill / = / 503, 496.00
= / 612,996.00
Production cost of one water unit =(total cost/Daily water demand of 845m3) / 612,996.00/ 845x30= 24.18
Estimated production cost per unit (1,000 liters) / = / 25.00
3. Proposed Tariff Structure
Water units range / Cost of unit Rs.0-25 / 25.00
6-10 / 30.00
11-15 / 35.00
16-20 / 50.00
21-30 / 75.00
31-40 / 100.00
Average consumption of water per family is around 10 units.
4. Basis for the monthly water bill
Fixed charge + Estimated consumption = Rs.100.00 + {(5 x 25=125) + (5x30=150)}
MONTLY WATER BILL = RS. 375/-