By Julius Businge
A group of Members of Parliament from two committees in Parliament; Natural Resources and that of accountability has commended the good job being done by National Water and Sewerage Corporation of supplying water and managing sewerage in the country. The MPs made these comments after a visit of the Corporation’s facilities in Lubigi and Ggaba on Dec. 16-17. The group also visited NWSC Bugolobi where construction of a new sewerage plant is currently underway. The Bugolobi plant will be the biggest in East and Central Africa and will not only treat sewerage but also generate power. This electricity will be used to power Ggaba Water Works. “From what we have seen so far, National Water is doing a good job,” said Florence Namayanja, the Bukoto East MP. Michael Werikhe, the MP for Bungokho South constituency said, MPs are interested in value for money.
“From what we saw we can say that tax payers’ money is being well utilized,” Werikhe said. Beatrice Atim Anywar, the woman Member of Parliament for Kitgum District said they [MPs] are ready to partner with the water body to manage the challenges faced by NWSC so it can meet its objectives. Silver Mugisha, the managing director for NWSC said they were happy to host the MPs. “I urge all of you to help us on our journey to serving all Ugandans,” Mugisha said. The water body is eying 100% service coverage of all Ugandans in years to come. NWSC’s customer base has grown from 50, 826 accounts in 1998 to 366, 097 accounts in 2014. Its Turnover has jumped to Ushs 188 bn in 2014 from 21 bn in 1998. As of Dec. 2014, the Corporation had increased its coverage to over 70 towns up from 28 in June 2013.