Vincentians to pay more for water and solid waste services

Garth Saunders, Chief Executive Officer of the Central Waters and Sewage Authority said revenue declined between 2003 and 2007.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Wednesday January 18, 2012 – Consumers will begin paying more for water and solid waste services from next month, the Central Waters and Sewage Authority (CWSA) announced Tuesday.

The basic water charge for domestic consumers will increase EC$2(US$0.74), while commercial consumers will soon pay EC$10 (US$3.70) more on their basic charge. The domestic and sewerage rates are also set to rise.

Garth Saunders, CWSA’s Chief Executive Officer said monthly bills would increase based on usage.

“We are cognisant of the fact that everything else is going up but all those things that are also going up are affecting the CWSA and we hope that the consumer will see that,” he told a media conference held to announce the price hikes.

He added, “We are about serious business and we want to assure our customers that we will be doing our best, as we always do, to provide good quality service and we hope that this increase is not burdensome on you.”

The previous rate hike sanctioned by the government took effect in 2007.

Saunders said the company’s revenue declined between 2003 and 2007, and remained stagnant over the last three years.

The CWSA boss said management intends to closely monitor expenditure, while financing capital projects.

“We want the projects to improve water quality. We want the life of our landfills to be extended and we want our services at the landfills to be improved. We want our equipment to be running all the time because once our equipment is down and we have to rent equipment, it’s a serious burden for us,” Saunders said.

The authority has spent in the region of EC$10.8 (US$3.9) million on capital projects so far. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)