The Accra East Region of the Ghana Water Limited has launched Operation Recover All Arrears owed, to retrieve a total of GH¢250 million owed by its customers.
More than 168 to 398 customers in 11 districts of the Accra East Region of the company are expected to be affected by the operations.
The Communications Manager of the Accra East Region, Nana Yaw Barnie, in an exclusive interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra over the weekend mentioned that the hospitality industry, mainly hotels, restaurants and eatery (chop bar operators) accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the arrears with the rest being private individuals and households.
Throwing more light on the operation launched on February this year, Mr Barnie said more than GH¢1. 6 million had so far been recovered, assuring that no stone would be left unturned until every arrears were retrieved.
He said customers were being encouraged to settle their indebtedness to the company to enable it to mobilise the needed revenue to improve upon its operations.
Furthermore, he noted that while the GWL was committed to providing quality service delivery, it was incumbent upon customers to fulfill their part of the bargain by paying their water bills on time while settling their arrears.
“We have chemicals to procure for treated water, pay electrify to pump the water to you homes and facilities,” he said.
As part of its innovation, the GWL has developed a software application (App) to make it easy for customers to pay their bills and arrears at the comfort of their homes with the use of a mobile phone.
The initiative, he indicated, was to maximise more revenue and plug all loopholes. Moreover, he disclosed that the company was moving away from sending monthly bills to homes and offices adding that “We will send it on your phone and use the same medium to pay.”
The Accra East Communications Manager underlined that it was only netter readers who would come around to take the reading with the bills transmitted electronically.
BY NORMAN COOPER
