Despite recent hikes in the prices of fuel and electricity, government officials said on Sunday that citizens’ water bills would not rise.
"News reports claiming that prices of water will be raised are false. The ministry is not planning to change the water tariff," Ministry of Water and Irrigation Spokesperson Omar Salameh told The Jordan Times over the phone.
Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar confirmed in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the ministry would continue to provide consumers with water at the current price.
"The ministry will continue supplying the public with water at the current tariff and subsidy, which covers between 50 and 60 per cent of the water bill," Petra quoted Najjar as saying.
In recent weeks, the government has imposed a series of austerity measures, which have included minimising subsidies on several commodities, including fuel and electricity. Earlier this month, the government raised electricity rates as high as 150 per cent in some sectors and increased the price of 95- and 90-octane gasoline by 25 per cent and 13 per cent respectively, triggering a wave of popular protests.
The fuel price hike came as the latest in a series of “drastic” measures officials claim is necessary to narrow a record JD2.9 billion deficit. Cabinet officials said on Saturday that the measures taken thus far had saved some JD300 million.
