Sewage charges should be increased by 50 per cent, the Director of Drainage Services said yesterday.
John Collier called for the fee to be raised from $1.20 to $1.80 per cubic metre.
He said the rise was necessary to cover operating costs of the Strategic Sewage Disposal Scheme Phase I and the Stonecutters Island Sewage Disposal Centre.
In the past financial year, the Government lost more than $360 million on sewage treatment, spending more than $1 billion but recovering only $700 million. There would be a similar deficit this year, Mr Collier said.
The charge has remained unchanged since its introduction in 1995. About 75 per cent of 2.1 million households pay less than $15 a month on average.
'We cannot go on subsidising everything,' he said, adding it was a good time to debate a rise ahead of September's Legislative Council election.
