Macroryan heating system rate skyrocketing: Residents

KABUL (Pajhwok): The residents of Macroryan apartments in capital Kabul said that the charges of heating system had doubled and they were unable to pay.

This comes that in the past the Macroryan heating system was activated on December 6th and till March 15th. But according to residents government had imposed higher rate for the heating system and it was not made activated so far.

Fazel Akbar Waziri, a resident of block 28th told Pajhwok Afghan News, the charges for the heating system had been doubled now comparing to the past.

He said a four room apartment was charged 24,000 afs for heating in the past while now it the cost had jumped to 65,000 afs.

People are jobless, they have economic problems, so they cannot afford to pay high amount to heat up their rooms, he added.

He added: “We are not allowed to install coal or firewood heaters in our houses, burning gas is dangerous”.

Samiullah, another resident, the charges for the central heat system had doubled and people are unable to pay“I have five rooms apartment and they charge for 68,000 afs for heating, this is a huge amount comparing to the past, we cannot install another type heater as well, if the central heating system is not functional, our children will get sick”, he said.

Khawaja Hamid, a resident of Macroryan Chahar told Pajhwok, the fees of heating system has been doubled, the people cannot pay it.

I have two rooms flat, I paid 20,000 afs in the past but I am asked for 30,000 afs now.

Dawood Shah, community representative of block 4th told Pajhwok that the fees of central heating system has been doubled comparing to the past.

A two rooms flat is charged 30,000 afs for heating system while a four rooms flat is charged 60,000 afs, this is doubled comparing to the previous year.

The residents are financially not sound, they cannot pay huge charges for heating system, that is why the heating system still remains off.

Some other residents of Macroryan made similar statements and they asked the government to solve this Mawlawi Abdullah Muslim, head of the Macroryn Blocks Protection and Maintenance told Pajhwok Afghan News, the prices of fuel surged in general, that is why the fees of heating system had been increased as well.

The machine of the central heating system runs on both the gas and diesel. The price of gas or diesel was from 35 to 40 afs per liter in the past, but now it is from 80 to 85 afs per liter, he said.

“As the prices of fuel increased, so the fees must also be increase from 24,000 to 50,000 or 60,000 afs”, Muslim added.

The head of Macroryan maintenance enterprise said, some residents of Macroryan blocks still owed 500 million afs from the previous years.

“If the people cooperate with us, we can find different sources from the welfare or other business institutions to address this issue”, Muslim said.

The machines of the heating system have no problems, they can provide the heating services for up to 7,000 houses, he added.

Aw/nh