By ANDREW PHIRI –
SOUTHERN Water and Sewerage Company (SWASCO) managing director Charles Shindaile has maintained that Police stations and camps will remain cut off from water supply until they settle the more than K1 million outstanding bill.
Mr Shindaile said Police in Southern Province had accumulated this bill over a period of one year and several reminders had been sent to them regarding the settling of the bill.
In an interview with journalists in Livingstone yesterday, Mr Shindaile said SWASCO had on several occasions engaged the police command in Southern Province and that they always promised that they would pay.
Mr Shindaile said it was unfortunate that there was lack of commitment from the Police because a payment mode could have been agreed upon.
“The Police command has been making promises that they will pay, but from last year, nothing has happened. We have even tried to pursue the matter from Lusaka but still nothing seems to be coming up, so we have shut water supply in all the camps and offices in the province,” Mr Shindaile said.
He said SWASCO would soon engage in a process that would separate connections from offices to individual homes in camps and that the process would cost about K300, 000.
And Southern Province Police chief Mary Chikwanda confirmed the development and said the Police camps and offices from Livingstone to Mazabuka have had no water for more than a week now.
Ms Chikwanda said her office had tried to engage SWASCO so that they could restore supply as the province was still waiting for funding.
“We still do not have water in all the camps and offices from Livingstone to Mazabuka because we have not yet received funding to settle the water bills,” Ms Chikwanda said.
It was unfortunate that they had failed to reach a consensus with the water utility company.
Some Police officers in Livingstone were seen drawing water from the nearby Maramba and COMESA markets.