British Giants to Rescue GWCL

Management of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in its bid to enhance the company's revenue collection and water distribution system is striking a deal with British giants, Advance Technology Ramar (ATR-PLC).

The move, which was initiated early this year, would automate the country's water metering system as is currently being done on a pilot basis in 53 ministries, departments and agencies including the State House and the Office of the President at Osu Castle.

It was established that management is impressed with the new system, which according to the acting Managing Director, Mr. Jonathan Nunoo, would fit into the existing system when finally approved by the Board of Directors, stressing it is customer-friendly.

Mr. Peter Korsinah, head of the Information Management Systems (IMS) of the GWCL, told Chronicle Monday, this week, while taking this reporter through the process that the initiative which is used in the advanced world is wireless and would ensure that meter reading is not disrupted in case of power outage.

He explained that the system when finally implemented would make meter reading accessible at the head office and other district offices of the GWCL since all transactions would be computerised.

Continuing, he said with the computerisation of the billing system, a wide area network would be developed to enable customers pay their bills through other outlets such as banks and using internet caf?s.

"With the new system, customers can go to the internet caf?, slot in their account number and access their water bill without walking long distances as is the case now," he intoned.

Touching on other advantages of the initiative, Korsinah noted that GWCL engineers could now determine the pattern of water consumption and flow in a particular area, saying the system is designed in such a way that illegal connections are easily detected.

"It has a tamper alarm proof that would alert us in case a customer tampers with the meter," he stressed, adding that the system also hints the engineers of areas where water does not flow.

He gave the assurance that meter reading would be accurate with the new system devoid of estimates, which at times affect both consumer and GWCL.

"Ultimately, the system would take over the manual process, since it would help increase revenue," he said, insisting that data reading would be done automatically.

Korsinah allayed fears that with the new automated system, data entry clerks would not be laid off, saying they will all be reassigned.

The acting GWCL Managing Director, Mr. Jonathan Nunoo, conceded that "these are things that would make work more simple," saying it is used in developed countries.

He stressed that the system can detect leakages without one necessarily going there, adding "It is a very good initiative."

Independent enquiries of the system known as the Automatic Meter Reading and Data Capture System from GWCL engineers and information management system experts revealed that the system when finally installed will check illegal connections which drain the company of billions of cedis annually.

According to the experts, most of whom pleaded anonymity for breach of confidentiality, they are able to detect which areas do not get constant flow of water or do not have water at particular times.

Under the automatic metering system, it was gathered, meters would be installed together with an electric wireless encoder that sends electronic signals to the system at the headquarters, hence reading of meters is done automatically at the GWCL head office, thus making it unnecessary for meter readers to visit individual premises.