Water & Sewerage Department to become a statutory body
The government is now expected to transform the Water & Sewerage Department into a statutory body.
In its most recent post-cabinet statement, the government announced that it will introduce legislation to convert the entity into a statutory authority under the Ministry of Transportation, Works & Utilities.
The statement further noted that the legislation, entitled Water & Sewerage Authority Act, 2021, will be introduced for its first reading in the House of Assembly at the next convenient sitting.
Previously, former Minister for Communication & Works, Mark Vanterpool, urged the government to make the entity a statutory body after he suggested the department in its current form was a ‘disaster’.
“I can’t blame anyone. I won’t blame myself alone either but Water and Sewerage is a disaster,” the former minister said during a House sitting at the time.
“[It’s] no fault of the workers, no fault of the people there but in terms of a strategy of what we are going to do there going forward with a utility such as Water & Sewerage, I think we need to come to the place where we can make a serious decision and make Water & Sewerage under a statutory organisation,” he added.
Becoming a statutory body would mean the department would now be run by a board and Vanterpool said there are benefits to his proposal.
Vanterpool, who held oversight of the body for eight years during his National Democratic Party’s (NDP) leadership of the territory, said more attention could be paid to the body as result.
“A statutory body can pay attention to [things] in terms of revenue, expenditure, engineering needs, in terms of supplying the people of this territory with water in the right way, in a fair way, in an equitable way,” Vanterpool argued.
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Disaster is joke!
they need new leadership, top to bottom, when are we going to be able to pay bills online
Setting up defense systems prep for uk take over. Taxi ,water and sewage boards independent of Government jobs for Friends &Family , non cooperation to destabilize and interfere with progress! All aboveboard dirty works!
Hope they don’t do them like they did health. Turn them over to a board with no sort of guidance. Pick members that halve no knowledge in health management or anything health related. Makes decision that sometime not in the best interest of the organization. Management needs a course on how to deal with staff (problematic or not. Always threatening to fire you even when they wrong. Paying several lawsuit for this. As for the finances that a problem. Pay late again. This has been happening to often even before the virus.
Government transfer them to a board without clearing all outstanding dept thus they struggling to this day. Solution to this is NHI but since their cronies can pay as they see fit, we the contributing employees suffering. ( I’m talking about public and private sector here)
As for management, they get a raise with every contract renewal and only extend it for their confusion making gang. The rest of us still waiting on a salary review five years in the
making. Paying friends and family and still can’t see the results.
Anyway, as I said before I hope they do better that what they did with Healy services.
Another board without any worker representation. Only the Government employs more workers than the BVIHSA but there is still no worker Rep on the board. The board is oblivious as to the operational environment of the orgz being informed only by mgt. In such an environment the minister and the board should meet annually with workers to inform their plans and direction for the next year. I don’t think asking for one day each year is asking too much.
@resident Pay your bills online ? That requires a modern internet. Not available in BVI
Firstly change them damn american meters from robbing people its crazy , secondly fix the customer service I tired dealing with hogs !
You forgot thirdly…thirdly install pressure valves in these pipes from them bursting on us all the time!
All pretend busy going around in circles year in year out in this day and age no adequate running water no truthful explanation, plenty tales promi ses and shuffling to look busy.
A Human Rights violation,this lack of water.
More money for them to steal!
Water & Sewerage … Same thing at times in the BVI