The Pantang Area Water and Sanitation Scheme in the Ga East Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region have vowed to wage war on people engaged in illegal water connection to get them punished.
The System Manager of the scheme, Jerry Yao Ayimah, said the activity had become a big worry and it is denying the company its critical revenue.
He therefore, appealed for strong public support to volunteer information to the company, leading to the arrest of the offenders.
According to him, the scheme found it disturbing, the refusal by some consumers to follow the correct procedures to get water flowing through the taps in their homes.
Mr. Ayimah cited instances where pipelines installed by the scheme were diverted by individuals to their homes without the notice of the scheme. He said the scheme has arrested six houses for engaging in illegal connections and are currently facing legal actions and will be punished accordingly.
He said they had stepped up efforts to deal with these illegalities by disconnecting services, which did not have proper documentation.
They would not leave it at that, he said, but would also prosecute the offending property owners.
He was speaking at a public hearing to account to the people on the activities of the scheme in the area at Abokobi.
The annual public hearing created the platform for the scheme to educate the people on their rights and responsibility as well as the activities of the scheme over the year.
Mr. Ayimah noted that the scheme has also arrested 80 customers have been sent to court over huge indebtedness to the scheme. He said many houses connected under the scheme are evading payment of water consumed to the tune of about of GHȼ300,000.
He appealed to customers to pay their bills on time and do away with the habit of piling up bills.
He added that because of the increasing population of the area, the scheme was determined to achieve a high level of operational efficiency in order to improve the supply of water to the population.
The Board Chairman of the scheme, Benjamin Banitsi thanked the people in the area for their patience and assured that the scheme was committed to providing potable water to them.
He said one major challenge to the provision of potable water apart from the high cost of electricity was damage to pipelines by estate developers.
He said the only way out of the situation was to relocate pipelines from private plots to avoid interruption of water supply as a result of the damages.
By Agyenim-Boateng Adjaye
One Response
Nana addo promise to give as free water and he come panteng area and sanitation people are here to correct their money.so You are telling as is free and late you send as bill and then come for your money.