Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Minister of water development and sanitation Mike Mposha has noted with concern the revenue losses by the water utility companies affects their ability to make critical capital investments.
Mr. Mposha has therefore called for enhanced collaboration among stakeholders in the sector for the country to make gains towards universal coverage of water and sanitation for all by 2030.
He was speaking during the launch of the 2021 urban and peri-urban sector report of the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council NWASCO in Lusaka last evening.
And NWASCO board chairman Silvester Hibajene says the sector faced a number of challenges during the year under review which included the high cost of service provision arising mainly from the high electricity tariffs, high cost of chemicals and increase in fuel pump price , which he says are all major inputs to service provision.
Mr. Hibajene says the increase in the cost of service provision has been matched with a corresponding increase in water supply and sanitation tariffs, which he says has made it difficult for the commercial utilities CU to meet their obligations and sustain service provision.
He further says high non revenue water has continued to ravage the sector, as the average for the year stood at 55.8%.
Meanwhile speaking earlier at the same event NWASCO director Kevin Chitumbo stressed that the ever increasing population and proliferating residential and businesses have continued to stress the need for more water and sanitation services to meet this growing demand.
Mr. Chitumbo says CUs have continued to work tirelessly to put in place robust institutional and infrastructure provisions to enhance their operational efficiency to meet this demand.
He however, says despite these efforts, the service delivery gap is evident and still requires more attention and investment.