Bwana Mkubwa Member of Parliament Dr. Jonas Chanda has disclosed that after petition Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company, the water utility company has cancelled all the huge water bills worth K2.9 million for residents of Upper Ndeke Township.
Dr. Chanda says the residents were wrongly billed for the period 2004 to 15th July 2017 when they had no water.
He explained that upper Ndeke is under a Fixed Billing system instead of a Metered Billing System.
“So, when the area had no water for 17 years due to low pressure and leaking old rusted water pipes, worsened by load shedding, residents were still being billed because of the fixed billing system, and hence ended up accumulating astronomical water bills worth millions of kwacha per household. When I became MP in 2016, I worked with KWSC to restore water to upper Ndeke which involved boosting the water pressure by replacement of valves and water pipes. The cancellation of these unjustifiable high water bills must stop KWSC from disconnecting water to these households, and must also encourage residents to pay water bills going forward,” he said.
“I have also petitioned KWSC to have unjustifiable water bills cancelled for those households in Mushili Township under a fixed billing system who were similarly billed for periods when they have had no water.”
He added that in order to mitigate this problem, he has further urged KWSC to replace fixed billing systems with metered billing systems monitored by residents themselves concerning their usage of water.
“I also further wish to announce other major water works by KWSC that will benefit Bwana Mkubwa Constituency soon: Extension of water supply to unserviced areas in Jacaranda Villa, Mushili extension, Ndeke extension; Construction of Reservoir in Mushili on top of Mushili hills; Creation of District Meters for unserviced area in Mushili; Repair/replace water network in Mushili already serviced area,” he said.
“The above projects in the constituency will cost almost US$7 million. The constituency will also benefit indirectly through the Kafubu Dam-Nakaputa 4 Concrete Tanks Transmission Line. I’m very thankful to the management of KWSC for correcting this huge injustice and for responding with water projects in unserviced areas in Bwana Mkubwa Constituency.”