Govt pays GH¢694m to GWCL to cover debts, expenditure
The government has paid GH¢694 million to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to cover debts and expenditure up to August, 2023.
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Out of the amount, GH¢100 million will be used to settle water bills owed by some senior high schools in the country.
The Managing Director of the GWCL, Dr Clifford Braimah, who said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic, added that “we have some arrangement with the government on some payment modalities.
The government pays some of our indebtedness which we use to clear their indebtedness”.
He also said that government institutions owed the company some GH¢350 million.
Dr Braimah said part of the money paid by the government would be used to clear the company’s electricity bills.
Revenue mobilisation
The Managing Director said there was an ongoing nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise to help reduce arrears accumulated over the years.
“Within the period our arrears have come down to about GH¢254 million. It means the exercise is making an impact.
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“People still owe, just that it has come down.
However, the challenge is that it is difficult to trace facilities that have relocated; we would try as much as possible to collect what is collectible,” he said.
For instance, the MD said, some bungalows in Wa in the Upper West Region, had some bills to pay but they had been pulled down to allow for the construction of a hospital.
“Some of the debt is on us since it’s difficult to trace but auditors have said that we should make an attempt to collect it,” he said.
Water projects
With regard to water projects, Dr Braimah said there should have been about eight to nine water projects ongoing with majority of them at completion stages by now, but the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and the default of the government to external banks had halted them.
“Some projects are still running. If you go to Keta, Wenchi and Sekondi-Takoradi, the projects are still running because they have other sources of funding,” he said.
Dr Braimah also said some projects in Tamale, Damango and Sunyani that were dependent on external commercial banks had halted.
The MD further said that turbidity of water bodies caused by galamsey activities had not changed and still posed a challenge to their operations.