Nana Yaw Barima Barnie, the Acting Chief Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited in the Western Region, has reported that customers in the region owe the company over GH₵23 million for water supplied.
This debt is impacting the company’s ability to maintain a continuous water supply to residents.
In an interview with Citi News in Takoradi on Tuesday, October 29, Mr. Barnie announced that the Ghana Water Company is launching a revenue mobilization effort to recover the GH₵23million owed, in order to sustain its water supply operations.
“Currently, Ghana Water Company has a big issue of arrears owed by customers. Countrywide, we are owed in excess of GH₵800 million and when you come to Western Region alone, the arrears are in excess of GH₵23 million and that is a big problem for us,” he said.
Highlighting the disturbing situation, Mr Barnie said such non-payment of bills affects its operational strength since it imports several of its inputs for water treatment.
“Ghana Water Company at the moment is not a subverted organisation and so what we need to do in our day-to-day operations, we need to depend on the bills our customers pay us. Thus, we buy chemicals in foreign currencies, pipes, fuel our vehicles, maintain equipment breakdowns which happen frequently, pay salaries of staff and a lot more.
“All these require a lot of money, and that money comes from the bills customers pay. So if you have a customer who pays you just GH₵300 out of a bill of GH₵1000, it means you’re not in good business,” he noted.
The Acting Western Regional Chief Manager of the Ghana Water Company therefore said it is embarking on an intensive revenue mobilisation to recover these arrears with disconnections for defaulters.
“We are moving from house to house to collect bills that people owe us from now till December end. If we come to your house, we expect that you pay us what you owe us. It is not in our interest to disconnect a customer, so we want customers to pay their bills even before we get there,” he added.
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