GWCL advocates review of tariffs

Accra, Aug. 28, GNA - Mr Ebenezer Kobina Garbrah, Chief Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), in-charge of Planning and Development, on Thursday expressed the need for a review of the tariffs paid by commercial consumers of water. He said the Public Utility Regulatory Commission should ensure that consumers like the industrial establishments paid economic tariffs to the State.

Mr Garbrah was speaking at a day's interaction of the Management of Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) and GWCL in Accra with journalists who were on a familiarisation tour of the Weija Head works. He said the operations of the Company were being hampered by factors such as the cumbersome process of land acquisition and the protection of water resources. Mr Garbrah said provision of potable water by the GWSL was also being affected by poor planning and lack of adequate consideration by the authorities in- charge.

He stressed the need for stakeholders including Staff of the GWSL and consumers to change their attitude towards the running of the company. Mr Andrew Barber, Managing Director of AVRL said about 20,000 people had benefited from the 500,000 Euros the company provided under its Water for Life Foundation. He said the figure was expected to increase to 50,000, by the end of the year. AVRL was competitively awarded a five-year funded contract, spanning November 2006- 2011 as operator in the Urban Water Sector, with GWCL as the grantor.

Under the contract AVRL was mandated to make the sector financially viable by improving water distribution and revenue collection, cutting down on non-revenue water, reducing chemical usage and cost as well as energy consumption. AVRL, which is a joint venture between Vitens of Holland and Rand Water of South Africa, is operating on non-profit basis. The company therefore did not make any investments in Ghana to mandate it to determine tariffs.

The contract sum comprised of $103 million grant from the World Bank, $12 million counter-funding from the Government of Ghana and five million dollars from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). The NDF went directly to AVRL for minor repairs, replacements and rehabilitation during the five-year contract period.

GWCL, as the grantor, had control over the $103 million World Bank grant for the purposes of major capital investments, regarding the large scale expansion works on the water production system. So far AVRL had established a Meter Workshop where thousands of water meters, donated by Vitens of Holland, are calibrated and distributed to customers. The company also operates a toll free call centre and a Geographical Information System, through which all customers had been captured in a computer-base data, and roped in thousands of illegal and evasive consumers into the metering and billing system.