S/Leonean capital braces for water shortage - Africa - News - StarAfrica.com

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> S/Leonean capital braces for water shortage
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> The government agency responsible for providing water to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown on Tuesday warned of a risk of total closure of the taps over huge debt it is owed by state ministries, departments, and agencies.The Guma Valley Water Company is one of two government agencies
> charged with provision of water.
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> It is responsible for the capital Freetown, while the Sierra Leone Water Company is responsible for the rest of the country outside the capital.
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> But Guma has been under the most pressure, especially recently and
> officials have now attributed the situation to failure of other government bodies to pay debts owed to it.
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> Mr Bankole Mansaray, Managing Director of Guma Valley Water Company, in a report seen by APA on Tuesday, said the company was owed Le13.4bn (US$ 3M).
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> He also lamented the uncontrolled encroachment into water catchment areas which he said had left dams empty.
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> Mr Mansaray blamed other stakeholders like the National Protected Area Authority and the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to protect the water catchment areas mainly located in the Freetown peninsular areas.
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> He said all this had seriously affected the development of company.
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> He said already the company was struggling to meet growing demand for water due largely to the rapid increase in the population of Freetown.
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> The city risk going without water if the situation continues unchanged, he warned.
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> According to sources, Guma is also seeking the support of parliament to effect about a half a dozen policy changes, among them aggressive debt collection, passing of a draft bill geared towards revamping the company’s operation, as well as revisiting its water tariff system which could see the cost for water climb further.
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> Signature : APA
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> Copyright : © APA
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