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THE MINISTER for Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, has revealed that the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is owed a whopping GH¢ 846,449,169.00 by domestic customers and Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies.

The Minister said this at the launch of GWCL e-billing and e-payment system in Accra yesterday.

He lamented that out of over 600,000 customers, 80% of which are domestic customers, only 70% pay their bills regularly. The inference is that as high as 30% of customers don’t pay water bill.

“I want to believe that those who are not forthcoming with payments do so not because they cannot afford, but the current payment system may not be convenient for them,” he said.
Mr Adda also said one of the challenges of the public and civil services is the lack of effective implementation of policies and effective leadership.

He commended the leadership of GWCL for the work done with technological innovation and asked the management to prove themselves worthy of the efforts.

“I wish to advise management to resource the Research and Development Department to enable them collect customer feedback so as to help the continuous improvement of the system,” the minister said.

He added that the launch of e-billing and e-payment would help minimise the incentive to engage in corrupt practices among some staff members.

Dr Clifford A. Braimah, Managing Director of GWCL, said the main aim of the launch was to make their engagement and relationship with their customers more convenient.

“All the solutions we have developed are testament to the synergy and teamwork between all departments in GWCL and our software services partner Softribe. It has been months of dedication, sacrifice and great work by the GWCL E-billing Project Management Team across the country,” he said.

Dr Braimah added that by the end of the year, the company would start the deployment of smart meters that would allow meters to be read without any entry into customers’ premises.

He urged customers to be patient and supportive of the company’s new direction by providing prompt feedback to enable them to constantly improve on their service delivery to a world class utility standard.