Officials from the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), Uganda’s water supply and Sanitation Company have assured customers in Jinja and the surrounding areas that through a series of internal reforms, infrastructure rehabilitation & development, improved information technology, performance management and operating systems, staff capacity building & training, and key stakeholder collaborations, they have been able and will continue improve services.
Led by the NWSC Board Chairman Dr. Eng. Prof Badru. M. Kiggundu, officials said that the people who have for a long time had an unreliable water supply will no longer experience these challenges following the civil works and maintenance at various facilities.
The assurances were made during a visit to Jinja area NWSC facilities in Jinja City on Tuesday where several activities including meeting stakeholders were conducted.
The Jinja Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Mr. Darius Nandinda, asked officials from NWSC who paid a courtesy call to his office to seriously handle the matter of encroachers, adding that fraudsters were illegally allocating titles to developers to construct over the water pipe lines which have existed since 1950s.
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On his part ,Eng Kiggundu, who said NWSC has been able to achieve several milestones over the years affirmed that the corporation will ensure that by 2028, they operate in 350 towns and serve 28,000,000 people with a Coverage of 95%.
Dr Charles Okuonzi , the Jinja area general manager, asked people to stop stealing water because it affects the work of the organization to expand their services to other areas with water scarcity.
Okuonzi added that NWSC has asked the government to take several strategic actions to implement a Cabinet directive aimed at curbing environmental degradation in the municipality.
In Jinja the most depleted wetlands include; Kirinya,Wanyange and Masese, on the shores of Lake Victoria. Kirinya wetland is particularly polluted by wastes from Factories around Jinja Town and illegal developers.
It should be noted that several reports have indicated that numerous investigations from both the central and regional Environmental Police Protection Unit unearthed massive encroachment, degradation and illegal registration and titling of sensitive areas(Wetland ,Riverbanks, lake shores ) in the District especially in the City.
NWSC was established by Decree No. 34 of 1972. Established 50 years ago, the principal business of the Corporation is to operate and provide water and sewerage services in areas entrusted to it by the Government, on a commercial and financially viable basis.
The corporation has over the years increased the number of towns served , increased the number of people served with piped water, improved pipe network length, boosted the number of customer connections from 10,000 to 900,000, Supported health improvement and industrial development of Uganda.
