Theft of water from the public network with secret connections is a common practice in the Cape Verdean capital because there are no fines for it, which is becoming a problem for the sustainability of the distribution company, the company’s president has lamented.
Crews are installing the network, but “often” residents ignore the meter “because they say they will steal it later,” Nilton Duarte, president of public company Águas de Santiago (AdS), told Lusa. following several complaints of water shortages in many areas of the Cape Verdean capital.
The man asked the government to introduce legislation into parliament to criminalize secret relationships, similar to what happened in September 2014 when electricity theft became a crime in the country.
Nilton Duarte said that until action is taken, two scenarios will prevail in Praia: “a lot of people with water shortages” and residents who are “clearly saying” they are installing their own connections.
The director confirmed what had been said in AdS’s annual reports: the company could not charge for more than half the water from the network due to illegal connections, billing difficulties and losses in the pipes.
“And we can’t do anything. We are in such a situation, and we turn to the competent authorities with a request to help us,” insisted the person in charge.
In the current scenario, Electra, the public company supplying AdS, would need to deliver 15 thousand tons of water per day to meet the capital’s needs, but this cost is about 12 thousand.
The situation forced the implementation of a “contingency plan” to streamline distribution, with schedules defined for each district “so that everyone can have water.”
According to the AdS president, there are no neighborhoods without water for more than 15 days, but he acknowledges that there may be homes with pipe problems or poorly located backup tanks.
The tanks should be at ground level, since the higher they are, the more difficult it is for water to get there when the network is supplied.
The President said that the problem in Praia will only be solved when Electra supplies more water, and they are negotiating with the shareholder state on this matter.
In the future, results should also emerge from the Water Efficiency Program, which aims to reduce water losses by up to 20% and rehabilitate pipelines with bank financing of 270 million escudos (2.5 million euros).
AdS is still implementing a program to connect water to peripheral areas of the Cape Verdean capital, budgeted at 133 million escudos (1.2 million euros), with joint funding from the Madrid City Council and the European Union.
The company was officially created in May 2014 as part of the reform of the water and sanitation sector promoted by the Government of Cape Verde in partnership with the municipalities of Santiago and with financial support from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a North American public development fund.
The company’s headquarters are located in Assomada, municipality of Santa Catarina. The company’s shareholders are the state (49%) and nine municipalities of the island of Santiago, the largest in the archipelago, with a population of about 235 thousand people.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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