Ministry of Water launches prepaid metres

People connected to the national water supply system will no longer need to wait for bills to pay but rather buy a card worth the units one intends to utilise over a specified period of time.
Under the new initiative, water customers will accurately budget for water and live within their means.

The Minister of Water and Environment, Ms Maria Mutagamba, said the project named “prepaid metres” will help in addressing challenges of operational costs of delivering water bills, disconnection of customers and their re connection and reduce manpower needs.
Ms Mutagamba said water wastage would also be reduced, adding that wastage was accelerating climate change.

Saving water
“Climate change is another problem that the country faces and this is because of lack of water, the only way we can solve this problem is by saving water through the use of prepaid metres,” Ms Mutagamba said during the launch of the project yesterday.

The government launched the programme in partnership with Ms V-Allied Water Supply and Technologies (VATEC) and Turkish Companies.

“Customers will use the water more consciously while National Water and Sewerage Cooperation (NWSC) will also save revenue that can be ploughed into better service provision,” Ms Mutagamba said.

Mr Fred Mwesigye, the managing director of VATEC said: “This system is going to improve the welfare of the people.”