By Emmanuel Gamson
Takoradi, Nov. 05, GNA – Nana Yaw Barima Barnie, the Acting Chief Western Regional Manager of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), says the company is compiling the list of defaulting customers in the region for prosecution over debts and non-payment of water bills.
He said that as of October of this year, their records showed that customers in the Western Region owed GWCL about GHC23 million and that the company was taking steps to process defaulters for court.
In an interview, he said: “We are compiling the list of all customers who have been disconnected but have failed to pay their bills and send them to court because we need the money to run our operations”.
Nana Barnie encouraged defaulting customers to settle their arrears to avoid being dragged to the court, saying, “We are very much prepared to use every legal means to retrieve all the arrears that people owe us”.
He stated that GWCL was no longer a subvented organisation and that they depended on bills to run their daily activities, however, non-payment was a challenge to their work.
“We are pleading with our customers to pay their water bills to help us run our day-to-day activities, else a time will come when GWCL will find it difficult to buy chemicals to treat water, fuel and other operational items due to non-payment of water bills,” he added.
Nana Barnie asked customers to take advantage of GWCL’s electronic payment platforms to pay their bills at their own comfort.
“In order to make it easier for customers to pay their bills, we have introduced the electronic mode of payment, and they do not need to walk to any pay point, a bank, or GWCL offices.
He said customers could use the GWCL mobile application or other platforms and pay so that they could help in serving them better.
GNA