Water Utilities owed P673 m

COVID- 19 restrictions makes it hard to take physical readings Chief Executive tells employees to walk the talk

Cash strapped Water Utilities Corporation ( WUC) has now turned its hope on employees as it struggles especially with domestic debts.

This week the corporation’s Chief Executive Officer Gaselemogwe Senai called on employees to settle their water bills and to encourage their friends and families to do likewise. The CEO put the overall domestic debt at P673 million.

“The Corporation is currently experiencing serious cash flow problems as well as an everincreasing debt book due to poor revenue collection. This has in part been aggravated by measures introduced to combat the COVID- 19 pandemic which inhibit the Corporation from conducting physical disconnections.

“You would further be aware that the very revenue that we are currently unable to collect is needed to keep the operations of the organisation going. This communique serves to seek your assistance in ensuring the financial sustainability of the organisation in line with the strategy,” said Senai in an internal memo to staff dated January 2021.

According to the CEO this can be done by settling all “your outstanding bills and ensuring that monthly bills are settled promptly”. He said the same message should be passed on to relatives, neighbours and close associates to encourage them to do the same. “This is our organisation and it is in our interest to see it thrive and be ‘ a leading water utility service provider by 2022’ as captured in our strategy. This can however, only be done if we all do our part. The overall domestic debt is currently P673 million. Let us work together to see it being drastically reduced for the future of the organization,” explained Senai.

Government directed the corporation to reverse its decision to disconnect defaulting consumers last year following the recording of COVID- 19 cases in Botswana and the resultant first countrywide lockdown. This was after the WUC started an exercise to disconnect defaulting customers as the corporation was battling with a huge debt collection. The decision by government further compromised the organisation’s financials.

In its 2019- 20 Annual Report, WUC Acting Chairperson Noble Katse indicated that operating costs continued to grow at a higher rate than income and reached P1.9 billion in March 2020, up from P1.6 billion in the previous year.

Much of this, he said was due to significant Internal Financial Reporting Standards ( IFRS) changes as well as the COVID- 19 pandemic, which resulted in the introduction of new costs in the last month of the financial year. He stated that these did not affect cash outflows, however, it significantly increased total operating costs.

According to the Report a project for the implementation of a Meter Data Management System ( MDMS) platform aimed at connecting all connectable devices ( smart meters, measurement devices such as water level monitors, pressure gauge monitors pressure sensors, quality sensors etc.) to allow for real- time access to operational data and decision was launched.

As the year ended, 35 smart devices ( sensors, smart meters, smart valves) had been deployed at Nanogang Community Junior Secondary School in Gaborone.

This exercise was done to test the functionality, pick learnings with the view to expand to the entire Village suburban area of Gaborone. Future plans are in place to progressively expand the roll out to the entire country.