Accra (Greater Accra), 16 Feb. '99 -

Consumers owe the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC) an arrears of 30 billion cedis, Mr Charles Agyei, Managing Director, told a public forum in Accra yesterday. Governmental agencies such as the Universities, hospitals and defunct markets such as the Makola Market among others, owe the corporation 18 billion cedis while private organisations, both commercial and industrial, are indebted to the tune of 12 billion cedis.

Mr Agyei said these debts have become non-existent as they cannot be retrieved adding "though the corporation appreciates the social responsibility role of the government, it must be noted that this kind of social responsibility is killing the corporation". He regretted that the GWSC is currently able to provide only half the amount of water needed for the country. "It is in this direction that the corporation has proposed a 76 per cent upward review of tariffs to the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) and we hope our present financial situation described as 'serious' will move the Commission to approve our tariffs".

Mr Agyei said the target in the upward review is to generate sufficient revenues to meet the corporation's minimum financing obligations and earn a minimum return on capital to be used for systems rehabilitation and expansion to areas that are without potable water. He said data by the Ghana Statistical Services in the Living Survey for 1998 showed an average Ghanaian household consumption of water to be less than five per cent of the total household cash expenditure, adding that "water rates exert modest stress on family budgets". The GWSC boss said the tariff structure provides a lifeline consumption band which is heavily subsidised to cater for the urban poor and under-privileged. He said consumers in this category will pay only 57 per cent of the cost of providing a unit volume of water.

''This translates into 800 cedis per 1,000 litres while consumers pay 200 cedis per bucket or gallon of water''. He called for urgent attention to be given to the needs of the water sector as 80 per cent of all diseases according to the WHO is water- borne.