Opuwo Town Council goes after residents over N.dollars 39 million debt

The Opuwo Town Council has announced that it is in the process of collecting around N.dollars 39 million in water bills owed to it by residents, which has resulted in the council disconnecting water supply of defaulters.

The town’s accounting officer Ngatangue Tjambiru told Nampa on Thursday that the council owes NamWater N.dollars 33 million, while another N.dollars 3 million is due to the Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (NORED).

Tjambiru said council chose to go after defaulters by cutting off their water supply after most of their appeals were disregarded.

He said council has entered into an arrangement with the debtors to clear at least 30 per cent of their water bills in order to prevent disconnection, with the remaining amount agreed on to be settled in monthly instalments.

“Every month, we send notices to remind them to pay their bills. We have no choice but to disconnect the water of individuals who do not make arrangements. What we say is that residents have the option to come to our offices and make arrangements to avoid disconnections, but some do not, he added.

Tjambiru further noted that the majority of defaulters’ houses belong to pensioners, making it difficult to collect these debts because the elderly do not have sufficient funds to cover their bills.

However, Licius Mupya, the chairperson of the council’s management committee, informed Nampa that the council has decided to waive off debts owed by pensioners, but did not specify if the council would write off the entire debt or just a portion of it.

Tjambiru, said council would broaden its awareness campaign to educate citizens on the relevance of debt payment while encouraging residents to do their part so that it can fulfil its constitutional objective of service delivery.

The council, he noted installed pre-paid water meters to help with debt collection. Currently, 500 meters have been placed in Onduunje, Scnhieder, Otuzemba, and Ouranda locations, with plans to expand to other areas of town.

Currently, the town serves approximately 4,000 households with water and the town plans to drill three more boreholes to address the water challenge.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency