Cedi-Dollar Ratio, Galamsey Increasing Prices Of Materials – GWCL

The Ghana Water Company Limited has proposed 334% to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for review and approval. The GWCL held a stakeholder consultative meeting yesterday in Accra to deliberate on the reasons behind its proposal and the way forward.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) for GWCL, Mr. Stanley Martey, has disclosed that, the Cedi-to-Dollar ratio and sudden increase in prices of materials used in their operations in the global market influenced their 334% tariff increment proposal.

Speaking on Opemsuo radio with Agudey, Mr. Martey said, the depreciation of the Ghana Cedi has affected them negatively as the company buys most of the materials used in their operations from foreign countries.

He indicated that, the depreciation of the cedi coupled with the drastic increase of prices of materials and chemicals by 60% in the international market has cost the company so much losing huge sums of money, which it has become needful for quick adjustment to be made.

The GWCL P.R.O indicated that the government was cushioning the company in loan repayment and the cost of compensations for affected individuals when carrying out projects which the government has now stopped paying for the company instructing GWCL to do so on its own. As such, the company has incurred debt and increased its budget, thus, the 334% tariff increment proposal to be able to deal with these challenges.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the GWCL, Mr. Stanley Martey, has disclosed that the company in its quest to provide clean and potable water for Ghanaians has to use more chemicals in its operations due to the impacts of galamsey activities.

“Galamsey activities in the country have destroyed most of the country’s water bodies which serve as major sources of water supply”.

Mr. Stanley Martey noted that, the high level of water pollution in the country has initiated the application of voluminous chemicals in clean water processing.

He emphatically stated that, the GWCL uses three times the amount of chemicals used in treating the same volume of water some few years ago because of the pollution of water through galamsey.

The cost of these chemicals has increased astronomically and as the situation demands more of these chemicals, requires huge sums of money. He noted that, this has caused the company to incur debt.

Source: Opemsuo.com/ Effah Mensah William.