LWSC bemoans failure by govt institutions to pay bills

LWSC bemoans failure by govt institutions to pay bills
Written by Lambwe Kachali
Monday, January 12, 2009 6:34:18 AM

LUSAKA Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) has said the company’s cash flow last year was adversely affected by non-payment of water bills by government institutions.

LWSC public relations manager Simon Mwale yesterday said as at December 30, 2008, government institutions owed the company a total of about K20.3 billion, thereby denying the company the much needed revenue to improve service delivery to the people of Lusaka.

He also noted that LWSC faced a number of challenges last year ranging from increased input to frequent power outages.

Mwale said as a result of power outages, the company also lost 24, 000 production hours which affected the pumping capacity.

He said although LWSC made tremendous progress in meeting water and sanitation requirements in terms of improved service delivery, the company was mindful that most people, especially in low-income areas still did not receive required or quality water services.

“Despite the challenges faced last year, however, we can say that it has been a fairly successful year for LWSC. The water supply in a number of areas was stable and we were able to improve supply to many parts of the city like Hillview, Nyumba Yanga, New Avondale and Matero which were water-stressed during the same period last year,” he said.

Mwale said the company would focus on enhancing supply capacity and reliability of infrastructure.