Defaulting Government departments won’t be protected

Choma District Commissioner Laiven Apuleni has criticitised government departments receive government funding but fail to settle electricity and water bills to utility companies that provide services. Mr. Apuleni said some government departments were deliberately neglecting their responsibilities of paying water bills, warning that his office would not protect defaulting departments from being disconnected.

He was speaking in Choma today when the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) handed over a K361 million cheque to Southern Water and Sewerage Company (SWASCO) under NWASCO’s Regulation By Incentive (RBI) scheme. He urged SWASCO not to hesitate to disconnect water supply to government departments that neglect paying their water bills.

Mr. Apuleni said government will continue supporting commercial water utility companies through a number of ways such as paying for its water bills. He said the development of infrastructure in water and sanitation services remains a government priority.

He said the Regulation By Incentive scheme, which was adopted by NWASCO, is another window through which commercial water utility companies in the country can access funds for investment. Mr. Apuleni appealed to SWASCO to use the initiative to seriously look at areas that will help turn around the commercial utility’s operations in the shortest possible time.[quote]

He thanked the Devolution Trust Fund, through NWASCO, for providing support in addressing problems of sanitation in the country. This is the second time NWASCO is awarding SWASCO. Last year, the company was awarded K464 million for improved performance.

And NWASCO board chairperson, Cosmas Musumali urged commercial water utilities in the country to reduce on unaccounted water losses. Dr Musumali said the current average for unaccounted water is 45 per cent countrywide.

He said this percentage was very high and therefore hindered the ability of the institutions to accelerate the provision of the quality services to the people. “Dilapidated infrastructure is a major contributor to this, followed by uncontrolled usage by customers due to low metering,” he said.

Dr Musumali said NWASCO will continue to monitor the performance of service providers and ensure that services are extended to more people particularly in the peri-urban areas.

ZANIS