State utility body, National Water and Sewerage Corporation has expanded its services footprint from 197 towns to over 200 towns of operation following the handover of an additional 25 towns by the Minister of Water and Environment Hon Sam Cheptoris.
This is phenomenal growth consideration that NWSC was in only 23 urban centres in 2013. There has also been a massive infrastructure growth with an annual average of over 1000 km of water pipe network extended across the country compared to an annual average of only 80 km that used to be extended.
NWSC MD Dr. Eng Silver Mugisha said the expansion is in line with the corporations 5 year strategic direction (2013-2018) launched in November 2013. The objective of the expansion is to ensure that NWSC meets the accelerating growth in demand for services.
Dr. Silver further adds that the increase in urban centres and the growth within the existing towns comes along with challenges related to inadequacies in service delivery.
It is against this mindset that the corporation is implementing the Infrastructure Service Delivery Programme (ISDP) and the Water Supply Stabilization Programme (WSSP) in various towns under NWSC jurisdiction to address the supply challenges.
Dr. Mugisha added that the ISDP and WSSP have seen access to water grow in leaps in and bounds with more people being served through increased access and supply reliability.
In addition, NWSC is now laying an average of 1000kms of water mains per year. This is record breaking and transformational considering that before the launch of the ambitious ISDPs the corporation used to extend between 80 to 100kms of water mains across the country. As a result of the pipelines laid, significant progress has been made in ensuring supply reliability, accessibility and more people being served.
Dr. Silver Mugisha emphasized that the ISDP is significant because it is funded from the Corporation’s internally generated resources. This is a clear manifestation of the Corporation’s performance improvement which has enabled the NWSC plough back its surplus revenue into infrastructure expansion to serve more people.
Dr. Mugisha is confident that NWSC is on course to achieve water for all, for delighted customers by a delighted work force.
