The National Water and Sewerage Corporation has rolled out a new Corporate Plan 2021-2024.
The plan is anchored on the country’s strategic plans; NDPIII, Government Manifesto, Vision 2040 and will focus on the following Strategic Priority Areas; Industrialisation, Infrastructure Development, Skilling and Work Force Development, Private Sector Involvement and Organisational Health Sustainability.
Speaking at the launch, Min of Water and Environment Hon Sam Cheptoris praised NWSC upon the timely completion of the Katosi water project and within cost.
He urged the corporation to implement the new plan to the delight of its customers and all stakeholders.
Hon Cheptoris expressed his delight on learning that NWSC now has surplus water to address all the water supply gaps in Kampala city.
He implored the water utility to protect the environment by planting trees, join the fight against pollution and implement CSR projects to benefit communities in Katosi
Min of State for water Hon Aisha Sekindi applauded the utility for the vigorous service extensions across the country.
She shared that her Ministry was innovating ways of protecting the final consumer from water vendors who sell water expensively and called on communities to support infrastructure projects and desist from focusing on project land compensation initiatives only.
Mukono South MP Hon Kayondo Fred appreciated NWSC for its excellent customer service, value addition to the water whicbh is usually abstracted dirty, from the heavily polluted lake. He further urged customers to pay for it, protect the environment and reciprocate the excellent service.
Hon Kayondo voted NWSC the best Government public utility and tasked them to extend services to the people of Katosi and the surrounding areas.
According to the Board chairman Eng. Dr. Prof Badru. M. Kiggundu, the completion and operationalisation of the Katosi water treatment plant, the water supply situation in Kampala has turned around service delivery in the city, with the formerly dry zones all eliminated and now saturated with water.
“The supply areas of Mukono, Seeta, Sonde, Namugongo, Kyaliwajjala, Kira, Bulindo, Naguru, Buwate, Kasangati, Gayaza, Namanve, Bweyogere, kirinya among many others which were previously dry zones, are all currently receiving water 24/7 from the Katosi system
Eng Kiggundu added that the new Corporate plan is a framework for a new promise to the people of Uganda, which is in tandem with the 5 year strategic direction
*NWSC to boost water supply in the new cities*
NWSC MD Dr. Eng Silver Mugisha revealed plans to improve construct water supply improvement projects, using modular designs, for atleast 7million litres/day additional capacity per city to serve for 7-10 years
*Dr Silver highlighted Corporate Plan transformation initiatives which include; 1. Resilient Utility, 2. SMART utility model, 3. Innovation and Incubation center, 4. Strengthening NRW Accountability Framework, 5. In-house Meter Testing and Maintenance Labs, 6. Green Technology Adoption and Decentralised waste, 7. Competency- based Career Development, 8. NWSC Captive Insurance Company, 9. NWSC Captive Construction Company, 10. Digitization And Improved Work flow Processes For Agile Work Environment, 11. African Water and Sanitation Academy and, 10. In- House Medical Facility and E-health system*
He also shared some of the game changing strategic interventions which include;
1) Mobilising funding for downstream sewerage collection infrastructure for Greater Kampala and design and implementation of low-cost appropriate sewage treatment technologies in other towns
2) Financial support for 6-Cities Water Supply improvement project, using modular designs, for atleast 7,000m3/day additional capacity per city, to serve for 7-10yrs (estimated budget: UGX 300Bn/-)
3) Support to high climate change resilience infrastructure for NWSC towns, through mixed technology options and decentralised WSS systems.
4) Mobilising more support from security agents to mitigate vandalism and theft of NWSC infrastructure assets, leading into financial and revenue losses
5) Strengthening provisions of financing agreements relating to loan financing so that the client has more soverign rights to decide on critical stages of procurements of projects
6) Mobilising financing to cater for funding gaps on settling arrears on completed projects to mitigate costly interest payments.
Dr. Silver added that NWSC is working on innovative systems to evacuate water from Katosi and subsequently address the water supply challenges in the city, work with NFA and NEMA to protect the environment, sensitize customers against pollution and urged customers to pay bills on time which helps the institution meet the water production inputs i.e power, chemicals, pipes, fittings etc
*NWSC At a Glance*
According to the Deputy Managing Director Technical Services at NWSC Eng Johnson Amayo the corporation has extended its footprint from 23 towns over 7 years back to now over 258 towns of operation, NWSC extends over 25000kms of Water mains across the country per year, connects over 58,000 customers/yr, installs over 3000 public points/yr among many others.
NWSC is also implementing water supply stabilization projects in Arua, Gulu, Bushenyi, Kapenguria, Fort Portal, Kalungu, Sembabule, Kapeeka, Lyantonde, Parombo among many other areas.
The Corporate Plan (2021-2024) will be implemented under the theme ” Transformative Accountable and Sustainable Service Delivery with the Mission to Sustainably and equitably provide cost effective quality water and sewerage services while conserving the environment and enhancing stakeholder trust.
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