UDS owes Ghana Water Company over GHC200,000

• Posted on March 23, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The University for Development Studies (UDS) is indebted to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in excess of GHC200, 000 covering over two-year unsettled bills.

Disclosing this on Onua FM morning show ‘Yen Nsem Pa’, the Northern Regional Public Relations Officer of GWCL, Nii Abbey said all attempts to reach a common ground with the authorities of UDS have been unsuccessful. According to Nii Abbey, GWCL has had several meetings with the authorities of the school to device a payment plan but all those meetings have not yielded any positive results.  Although the PRO said they have no immediate plan of disconnecting UDS in spite of its heavy indebtedness to the water company, it may be forced to take some action since that it is becoming difficult to meet its operational challenges.

“UDS owes us (GWCL) in excess of 200,000 Ghana Cedis, we have tried several times to have them pay but still nothing. However we continue to supply them water all the same. The authorities keep telling us one story or another; meanwhile we also need money to do our work.” Nii Abbey also revealed to Bright Kwesi Asempa, host of Onua FM’s morning show that UDS is not the only institution that is indebted to GWCL in the Northern region but others such as Tamale Teaching Hospital, National Sports Authority, ( mangers of Tamale Sports Stadium), and the Tamale Technical University.

He also mentioned that most of the Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies in the Northern Region owed various sums of money as well as households. “As we speak we are moving from house to house to collect bills instead of people coming to pay. This is what we as a company have decided to do because they are not paying. Even apart from UDS, other government agencies also owe us. Meanwhile we also need money to ensure a constant supply of water for all.”

Nii Abbey has also announced that the Northern regional town of Yendi and its surroundings will soon be hit by water crisis as a result of human activities along the White Volta. Human activities like sand winning and other activities have polluted the White Volta beyond treatment, making it expensive to treat and make the water wholesome for consumption.  

By Bright Dzakah