By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE Copperbelt Epidemics Prevention Committee has proposed that water utility companies should submit cost of water and sewerage services for new plots to councils before land allocations are conducted.
The move is aimed at improving water sanitation and management to curb disease outbreaks.
According to an action plan by the Copperbelt Epidemics Committee, water utility companies should submit the cost of water and sewerage service provision prior to the council allocating land.
The report said water utility firms should quantify the cost for water and sewerage services provision which should be added to the cost of plots by the local authorities prior to advertising new residential plots.
This comes in the wake of Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Stanford Msichili’s appeal to councils and water utility firms on the Copperbelt to work together when issuing plots in new residential areas.
Mr Msichili at the start of the provincial meeting said the water utility firms and councils should coordinate efforts to prevent disease outbreaks such as cholera.
He said local authorities did not consult water firms at the point of issuing plots and therefore did not collect service charges for water and sewer lines.
This, he said, had led to plot owners building houses which were not connected to water and sewer lines.
The other resolutions from the epidemics meeting were that stakeholders should continue engaging street vendors to come up with an amicable solution to the problem.
It was also resolved that health stakeholders in the province should make active follow-ups on progress towards the establishment of a food and drugs laboratory on the Copperbelt.
The committee believed that the single food and drugs laboratory unit in Lusaka was not sufficient to cater for the entire country.
Samples meant to be tested for diseases like typhoid and measles were sent to Lusaka a situation stakeholders felt took long and affected quick response to epidemics.