By Saio Marrah
Residents of Mambo community in the Western Rural District have expressed their dissatisfaction over the sudden increase in the cost of water sold by the Guma Valley Water Company.
The increment in the cost for a bowser of the water supply happened within a week, according to a Mambo resident who asked not to be named.
He told Politico that the community is not connected to the company’s transmission pipe that supplies water to the Capital Freetown, and that they have to buy water transported by the company’s bowsers.
He said: “We used to buy 10,000 litres at Le 800. Just last week they raised the price to Le 1,800 the new currency and a bowser of six thousand litres was sold Le590 before but it now is Le1, 180. “
The man said one cannot live without water and that the increment has seriously affected his family which is almost running out of budget .
“When we went to the office, they told us that this is the new price they just came up with,” he narrated.
Asked why they have not connected to Guma’s main transmission pipe that supplies water he said: “We have tried to do so, but there are difficulties to connect because Guma has not created the necessary steps to connect the community.
He said considering the current economic crisis wherein salaries remain the same, water is a basic facility government should make affordable to communities.
While acknowledging that the recent increase in the price of fuel could have contributed to the hike, yet he said it was not reasonable enough because it’s more than 100% increment.
A GVWC official, Alie Kabba, said the price increment could directly encourage factory owners to connect to the transmission pipes instead of buying from the company bowsers.
He also pointed out that the bowser was relatively cheap as compared to the main transmission pipeline tariffs and that was the reason the water packaging companies are refusing to connect their factories with the Guma pipeline.
Kabba disagreed that residential consumers are charged the same as packaging factories and advised those buying for residential use to forward their concerns to their head office.
Responding to question as to why they have not created the facility of residents at the Mambo to connect to the main transmission pipe, he said the management has been considering such. He also said there is on-going water supply project around the Mambo waterfall, which he said when completed, will address the water constraints of the community and surrounding settlements.
However a document from GVWC seen by Politico stated that from the 2nd November, 2022, for Guma’s designated Western Rural One communities that include Mambo, Goderich, Hastings and Hamilton, the cost of six thousand litres of water stands at Le530 for residential, Le590 for commercial, while for water packaging factories it is Le1,180.
For Central, the new price for the same six thousand litres is Le400 for residential, Le460 for commercial, and Le1, 020 for water packagers.
For the ten thousand litres, at Mambo and the other designated communities, it is Le800 for residential, Le900 for commercial and Le1, 800 for water packaging companies. The list also highlighted the new prices for other mapped communities in the Western Area..
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