Wednesday, October 13, 2010

GWCL/AVRL LOSES GH¢12,375 IN BA...Through theft of metre reading gadgets (PAGE 42, OCT 14, 2010)

THE Brong Ahafo Regional office of the Ghana Water Company Limited/Aqua Viten Rand Limited (GWCL/AVRL) has since January, this year lost a total amount of GH¢12,375 through the stealing of metre reading gadgets in the region.
Since the beginning of the year 225 metre reading gadgets worth GH¢12,375 have been stolen in the region, with the Sunyani Municipality alone recording 150 cases, Berekum 45, while the Dormaa Municipality and the Dormaa East District have recorded 20 and Techiman Municipality 10, respectively.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Manager of the GWCL/AVRL, Mr Maxwell Addo-Boateng, made the revelation in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Sunyani at the weekend.
He said the situation had assumed an alarming proportion and residents in the region had been urged to be on the alert and report any suspicions characters in their vicinities to the police.
Mr Addo-Boateng warned those who patronised the sale of the stolen metres to turn over a new leaf since it affected the smooth operations of the company in the region.
He stressed that the company spent a lot of foreign exchange to import the metre reading gadgets so when they were stolen, it led to the loss of treated water for consumption and the company had to spend many hours in restoring the service.
Mr Addo-Boateng said the situation created inconvenience for the company and the public.
He stated that the company in a bid to halt the stealing of its existing metre reading gadgets in the system, had started installing new plastic metre reading gadgets inside the premises of customers to replace the original brass coated ones, which had been the centre of attraction for the thieves.
According to him, the company had also embarked on a public education campaign to sensitise the people on the need to protect the metre reading gadgets installed to pipelines in their homes.
Touching on water supply in Sunyani, Mr Addo-Boateng said the situation had been stable but the rationing of water supply in the municipality and its environs was still ongoing.
He stated that stability in power supply had also enhanced operations, and expressed the hope that it would continue for the company to deliver efficient services to the public.
Mr Addo-Boateng disclosed that the company produced 115 million gallons of water daily for the region, which could not meet the current two million gallons demand hence, the rationing of water in Sunyani, Chiraa, Dumesua and the other catchment areas of the company in the region.

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