Northern Region Water Board owed K800 million
The Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) has admitted that it is struggling in some of its operations due to bad debtors who owe it over K800 million in unpaid water bills.
The debtors are mainly from the private sector and small and medium enterprises said the board’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Titus Mtegha Thursday.
He was speaking during the launch of Rapid Results Approach (RRA) and Chipopoma Performance Improvement Initiatives.
Mtegha also disclosed that the board continues to lose resources through non-revenue water currently pegged at 30 percent, which is lost through burst pipes and illegal connections among others.
“These are results-based initiatives and we want to do things differently to achieve the various targets that we have given ourselves,” Mtegha explained.
He said various government departments owe the board huge sums of money, but was hesitant to disclose the actual amount.
Through the Chipopoma initiative, Mtegha said the board aims at reducing the number of disconnected customers and making more connections as way of expanding its customer base.
“People might have reacted to a number of things like the Value Added Tax on water, the hiked tariffs, hence the stagnation in numbers of our clientele, but we are putting in place initiatives to win such customers back and woo others to get connected,” he explained.
Board Chairperson Reverend Howard Matiya Nkhoma hailed NRWB and called on Malawians to be patriotic by paying their water bills in time.
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