The tariff for water for the population has increased by 100% in Turkmenistan. Residents of the capital and regions learned about this when paying for utilities. The country’s authorities did not notify the population about the tariff increase, which caused fears among the population that other services, including electricity, may also become more expensive, Radio Azatlyk (RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service) reported.
“Yesterday, a friend of mine paid for water. And there she learned about an increase in the tariff for water from 0.5 to 1 manat per cubic meter,” an Azatlyk correspondent reported in Ashgabat on January 4.
The increase in the tariff occurred immediately after an annual increase by 10 percent in salaries and pensions in Turkmenistan.
President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, in his New Year’s address to the Turkmen people on December 31, said that the decision to increase wages by 10 percent was made “in order to further improve” the well-being and social conditions of the population.
But Turkmen people say that a 10 percent increase in wages does nothing to improve the well-being of the population, since it cannot keep up with the ever-increasing prices of goods and services.
An annual increase in public sector salaries by 10 percent has been practiced in Turkmenistan for approximately the last 15 years, whereas every year prices for goods and services in the country increase by tens of percent.
Utilities in Turkmenistan have risen in price tenfold in recent years. Between 2015 and 2019 alone, utility prices increased 60-fold.
Turkmenistan has serious problems with water supply to the population; there is not enough water for either residential buildings or agriculture. At the same time, the country has a large number of decorative fountains, and is considered one of the world’s largest wasters of drinking water.
