Entebbe best water revenue collector

By Francis Emorut                                                   

Entebbe, Fort Portal and Hoima towns have been awarded for being the best areas in the country for water revenue collection.

Entebbe was the overall winner for collecting water revenue of over sh300m per month while Hoima came in second at sh150m every month and Fort Portal was the third with a monthly collection of sh100m.

A National Water Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) audit team chose the three towns following six months of evaluation on water performance from July to December last year.

In a ceremony at Protea Hotel, Entebbe on Thursday, the winners received plaques, with Entebbe getting cash prize of sh5m while Hoima and Fort Portal earning sh3m each.

The water area managers across the country were evaluated on governance and transparency, stakeholders’ engagements, customers’ satisfaction, and water sales.

Lugazi town was given an award for exhibiting good governance and transparency in water service delivery and on its part, received a cash prize of sh2m while Entebbe performed well in customers’ satisfaction.

The towns were also evaluated on the areas of assets management and cost optimization.

 Announcing the winners, the evaluation manager Jude Moga pointed out that the towns whose performance declined merited certificate of concern.

He said the certificate of concern is to encourage the area managers to perform better.

The towns which received certificate of concern include Kabale, Arua, Jinja, Soroti and Tororo.

Others were Kampala, Masaka, Mbale, and Mbarara.

The managing director of NWSC, Dr. Silver Mugisha, warned the managers on consumption expenditure, saying it should be reduced and that they should concentrate on developmental expenditure.

“It’s time to pay less allowance and work harder. We need to attend fewer workshops and act more on service delivery,” he said.

The award ceremony was also attended by the board chairperson Dr. Christopher Ebal and board members.

Ebal advised the water management to be implementers of the new innovations.“Let’s not be creative people but also be implementers.”

The Mayor of Entebbe, Vincent Kayanja hailed the corporation, the New Vision and National Social Security Fund for being the leading government enterprises in revenue collection.