WSD being a nuisance no reason to make it statutory body — Fraser

The government should not be transforming the Water & Sewerage Department (WSD) to a statutory body simply because it has found it to be a nuisance.

This is according to Third District Representative, Julian Fraser, who was at one time a Minister for Communication and Works with responsibility for that entity.

Fraser was referring to a bill that is currently before the House of Assembly (HOA) to transform the WSD to a statutory body under the Ministry of Transportation, Works and Utilities.

“I just want to say that if it is the intention of the government to get rid of a nuisance, that is not a good reason for doing it,” the veteran legislator warned.

Fraser continued: “If it is the intention of the government to improve the situation that we have before us then it’s a good reason.”

Fraser promised to speak more on the issue when the matter comes up for debate in the HOA.

Previously, another 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’.

“[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,” Vanterpool said at the time.

Becoming a statutory body would mean the department would now be run by a board and Vanterpool said there are benefits to his proposal.