Water tariffs in Zagreb will not go up after all, for the time being, the city's Vodovod i Odvodnja (ViO) water and drainage company said on Thursday, putting out of force the new water tariffs made public last week after its new director Marko Blazevic held talks with the Water Services Council.

The latest decision does not bring into question the need to increase water tariffs, but the new rates should be defined fully in compliance with the relevant regulations, in cooperation with the Water Services Council, he said.

“This means that the increase in water tariffs will be postponed for the next few months until the new tariffs are defined in line with recommendations by the Water Services Council,” Blazevic said.

Even though Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic last year announced that water tariffs in Zagreb would go up by 15%, that did not happen because the Water Services Council, an independent regulator at the Economy and Sustainable Development Ministry, suspended the procedure to increase water rates to cover the costs of development of the municipal water supply and drainage company, which was one of the two segments of the increased tariffs, which was why the planned increase that was to have gone into force on 1 March was partial, amounting to 7%.

The Council suspended the planned increase in water tariffs because former ViO director Davor Poljak had not submitted the necessary documentation to the Council, which is why Tomasevic dismissed him.

The decision to postpone the increase in water tariffs altogether was made on Thursday by new ViO director Blazevic, who said that meetings with the Water Services Council “confirmed that procedural errors were made in the process of defining the new tariffs.”

Blazevic said that the price of ViO services had not gone up since 2012 and that the increase was necessary for the sake of a safe water supply and new investments, to reduce water losses.

“The situation with the water supply system is untenable because investments have not been made for decades. Around 50% of water is lost in the water supply system and pipe bursts are occurring on a daily basis. Last month alone, 130 water pipes burst… which is an average of 4.5 bursts a day,” he said.

This requires significant investments on a daily basis and the only way to prevent pipe bursts and water loss is a significant investment in the reconstruction and upgrading of the water supply network, he said, noting that that was the only way to expand the water supply system and bring water to each household.

State secretary: We will make sure water tariffs do not go up at all

Welcoming ViO’s latest decision, the State Secretary at the Economy and Sustainable Development Ministry, Mario Siljeg, said on Thursday that the ministry and the Hrvatske Vode water management company would secure additional expert capacity so that water tariffs in Zagreb do not have to increase at all, and that he expected the same of the city administration.

“There are many sources of financing for the reconstruction of Zagreb’s water supply network. We are working together on the Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the ministry and Hrvatske Vode will make their expert capacity available to our partners also with regard to applying for funding for the very valuable Zagreb Project,” he added.

“We still believe there is no reason to increase water tariffs because there are additional funds from other sources, notably EU funds and the Recovery and Resilience Plan, to ensure funding for the reconstruction of the water supply network,” Siljeg said.