|
Govt owes 4bn/- in unpaid water bills
2005-11-16 07:40:52
By Ludger Kasumuni
Government institutions owe water authorities across the country 3.8bn/- in unpaid water bills, it was revealed yesterday.
The Tanzania People’s Defence Forces, Police Force and government secondary schools were the biggest debtors, Water and Livestock Development Minister Edward Lowassa said.
He revealed this when launching the Water Education and Mass Mobilisation Association (WEMA) in Dar es Salaam.
Lowassa said huge bills accumulated by government institutions over the years had adversely affected most urban water authorities.
’Despite high public awareness on the importance of paying water bills, government institutions are still the major debtors of most urban water authorities. Until December 2002, they had accumulated water bills totalling 3.8 bn/-,’ he said.
Another problem afflicting most urban water authorities was high power tariffs.
’Power charges eat up between 50 and 70 per cent of total revenue,’he said.
He cited the following urban authorities as the most affected in terms of paying high power tariffs (percentages of the revenue eaten up by power in brackets): Dodoma (70), Mwanza (40), Bukoba (50), Iringa (60), Mtwara (50), Shinyanga (80), Kigoma (50) and Singida (55).
Lowassa said the challenge for the national water authorities was to work hard in a bid to increase revenue collection.
He said that generally the performance of urban water authorities was satisfactory.
Between 1995 and 2004 revenue collection for all urban water authorities increased from 400m/- to 17.9 bn/-, he said.
Lowassa challenged the public relations officers of the urban water authorities to bridge the communication gap between water users and authorities.
’Work hard to ensure that water users own the services. Make sure that there is smooth communication between you and the mass media on the one hand and between you and water users,’ he urged.
On his part, the Secretary General of WEMA, Athanas Chale, said that they had decided to form the organisation in order to implement a number of objectives, including harmonizing relations among stakeholders in the water sector and creating public awareness on water policies and laws.
He listed other objectives as mobilising people to protect the environment for sustainable use of water sources, raising public awareness on the importance of paying water bills on time and sustainable use of water resources.
|
