THE Water Authority of Fiji says people who wish to have outstanding water bills waived have to meet certain criteria.
Spokeswoman Fulori Turaga said only eligible applicants would be considered. She was responding to the numerous queries placed with the The Fiji Times office by consumers who also wanted their bills waived.
WAF has stated that bills would only be waived for leakages in plumbing works, long period of estimated usage, first reading for usage accumulated over the years and schools and religious organisations that have accumulated arrears prior to 2010, before WAF was established.
"If they don't meet these criteria then their application will not be approved. We know there are some who have applied but are capable of paying their bills. This government initiative is for those who are not at all in any position to pay their arrears and these are genuine cases and the authority will be closely monitoring such applications."
She confirmed a total of 1279 application for bill waiver had been received by the authority. From the application, 234 were from the Central and Eastern divisions, 1022 from the west and 23 from the north.
She said $123,421.28 would be waived for west customers while the Central and Eastern divisions would have $128,385.99 waived. For the north $7753.52 is expected to be waived.