This morning, the Parliamentary Accounts Committee on Parastatal Bodies undertook a field tour of Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Facilities.
Speaking to the Press, Committee Chairperson who is also Zambezi East member of Parliament, Honorable Brian Kambita stated that it was gratify to witness the amount of work and hightech processes that goes into the process of supplying consumable water to homes and industries around Lusaka on fast hand basis.
This was after inspecting thw newly constructed facility under the Kafue Bulk Supply and other facilities.
He observed that the Committee learned that the issue of Bulk Supply Project was financed by four (4) financiers, among them the World bank and it costed around USD300 Million to fully complete.
He said even after such a colossal investment, it was observed that it still needs more funding in order for the water supply and sanitation company to operate at its optimal.
He however noted one of the major challenges as observed in the Auditor General’s reports regarding the operations of the company, there was alot of water that was being consumed which was not being charged, which translated into wasted water and consequently operational loses for the company.
To mitigate this, he said something was currently being worked on which will aim at ensuring that all consumed water gets metered.
Taking note of operational costs, like Zesco electricity which is among the major production inputs, the company has been operating on a loss with the wasted water. This he said calls for discussions around current tariffs at which water is supplied in order to curb the losses.
He said this leaves the committee at a cross road where they are not sure which way to go but he stated that a decision needs to be made arising from thw high level discussions.
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