NWSC is to disconnect non-paying customers to effectively deliver service, meet obligations.
Drake Nyamugabwa
The Managing Director of, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) Eng Silve Mugisha has announced that they are going to disconnect some segments of non-paying customers of water bills to minimize the effect they are causing to the ability to effectively deliver services and meet its obligations.
He said this during a press conference held at the Head quarters of NWSC in Nakasero, Kampala on Tuesday 2nd May 2023.
Eng Silver said that all government institutions that have accumulated domestic arrears over and above the discount invoicing threshold approved by the Ministry of Finance will be disconnected, with immediate effect, after they failed attempts to heed the the Permanent Secreatary Ministry of Finance Ramadhan Ggoobi’s directive to consider water bills as the first call on quarterly releases, consistently.
“Management has taken a painful decision to implement a strict disconnection strategy for all outstanding arrears of more than one month, with immediate effect,” he said.
He said that Government entities have failed to clear outstanding water bills, in billions specifically the Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs, Uganda Police Service and Uganda Prisons Service which have accumulated arrears of UGX19b over and above the existing Shs43b arrears that Ministry of Finance has accepted to budget for and clear accrued between July 2022 and March 2023.
On domestic users, who owe about UGX 18b, Eng Mugisha said that each and every coin counts.
"We pay for power, chemicals, repair materials and others for every cubic meter of water supplied. The providers of the production inputs need money to continue supplying us. We urge customers to pay their water bills from as low as 5000UGX and above" he said
Furthermore, Eng Mugisha said that the corporation is implementing projects in Soroti, Kanungu, Kalungu, Lyantonde, Moroto, Kyankwanzi, Kihihi, Tororo, among others using internally generated resources. Delayed bill payment will affect these projects among others in the pipeline
NWSC had previously agreed with the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to budget for UGX.43 billion arrears which would be cleared in the next three years.
“However, the funds being released are not sufficient to clear all the bills. As a result, the bills have accumulated.This is a constraint to our cash inflows as a corporation and affects both the operations and public service delivery” he told Ramadhan Ggoobi
