Stop attacking GWCL for tariff upsurge, pay to avoid disconnection - Ashanti North District MD

Regional Chief Manager of the Ashanti North Region of the Ghana Water Company Limited, Mr. Francis Mensah has urged water users to always settle their debts to avoid being disconnected before settling any dispute.

According to him, it was very worrying how people usually attacked innocent workers of the Ghana Water Company for an increment in water bills. He said increments or reductions in water bills are not regulated by the Ghana Water Company Limited as people perceive it, adding that the right regulators were the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC).

He has therefore urged consumers to always pay their bills to avoid being disconnected instead of confronting GWCL workers. According to him, there was recently a tariff increment and even before the increment, the PURC engaged customers on several occasions for their reasons.

"They gave us only an 8% increment as compared to the ECG which was far more than ours. But people pay the electricity bills without complaining. For ours, it has become difficult," he revealed.

He said, the quarrels people usually picked with workers of the GWCL in their quest to retrieve monies owed the company, was a course of worry.

"People easily go straight to the ECG to pay their electricity bills, but when it comes to water bills, they will wait for us to come to them to demand payment of their bills. And even sometimes, they pick quarrels with our men when they visit their houses to present bills, sometimes resulting in blows and this is unacceptable behaviour," he said.

He added that the company has started processing those owing huge arrears to court. He said it has already started with about 66 customers who are soon going to appear before court.

He has therefore urged consumers not to wait until the consequences before they do the needful.

The manager also touched on activities such as meter theft and illegal connections, where he disclosed that they were seriously denting the image of the company.

"Anytime we're even going for tariff review, you're told by PURC that you have a lot of non-levying water, meaning those usages cannot be accounted for or levied. Sometimes when you convert the non-levying water into figures, it can pay for our salaries for about six(6) months to one(1) year.

"So, we are appealing to the community members here to stop these illegal activities because it doesn't help anybody. When you're caught by the police, your next destination will be court and if you are not able to justify your reasons, you'll be given some sentences," he warned.

Meanwhile, the regional distribution manager for the Ashanti South who adds as the project coordinator for the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan area sanitation and water project, Ing. Somuah Tenkorang has disclosed that when it comes to supply of water, some communities have to be cut off sometimes to pave way for the other areas to get their fair share of the distribution.

According to him, this usually occurs because the company does not have enough infrastructure that meets the supply of water to every community at a time.

"What we usually do is that we engage in water earning management by rushing the water in a way that everybody gets access to it. So, there are times that the Moshe Zongo will have to be cut off to allow a certain community to have access to it. And there are times those communities too have to be cut off to give way for other areas," he revealed.

He said, the company has a water management plan and usually communicates to the people for them to know when it will get to their jurisdiction. According to him, the government has therefore put things in place to ensure such scheduled distributions are cancelled, indicating that the government was committed to increasing access to water supply.

"So the whole idea is to increase access to water supply and the government is helping us day in and day out by giving us the necessary resources to be able to put in place the necessary infrastructure."

He said there were plans to expand the water treatment plant, lay down many pipelines, etc. Expatiating the laid down plans, Ing. Somuah disclosed that the Kumasi metropolis was going to get 110 kilometres of pipe out of which Moshe Zongo alone will receive 10 kilometres.

He disclosed that the government had already released funds for that, and he was of the firm conviction that when that is done, it will help ameliorate the water supply situation in Kumasi.

All these interactions took place during the celebration of the 2023 World Water Day that took place at Moshe Zongo in Kumasi.

Regional Chief Manager of the Ashanti South Region for the company, Ing. Edward Kwabena Agyekum, touching on this year's theme, "Accelerating Change: Mobilising Households to Connect to GWCL Pipe Network", said, the GWCL was encouraging every household to pay subsidized fees to connect to the company's water distribution network.

According to him, subsidized fees for water connection had been introduced by government to ensure the desired change by bridging the inequality gap between the urban rich and poor.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the subsidized fee for water connection by the government was going to exist for some period of time and the amount to be paid will be up to Gh¢600.

Ing. Agyekum has however urged every household, especially those within the Greater Kumasi, to take advantage of this new drastic reduction to access water in their homes by taking part in subsidized fees for water connection.