* A solar farm shall be constructed at its 12-hectare land at Nguludi pumping station
* The high ESCOM cost is through the long distance Walkers Ferry because of gradient
* Which is further assisted by Kameza booster pumping station in Chileka
By Duncan Mlanjira
From the numerous production costs that Blantyre Water Board incurs to provide reliable and affordable water supply services to its customers, the cost of power from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) for pumping water from Walker’s Ferry ranks extremely high at K1.3 billion a month.
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This is against the K1.9 billion that the Board generates as monthly revenue with the remainder used on other management and production costs as such imported chemicals; water testing in laboratories; replacement and new connections of pipes and accessories; wages & salaries; transport and operations, among others.
Thus in its turnaround strategy, BWB plans to reduce energy consumption by implementing independent power production using solar, whose farm shall be constructed at its 12-hectare land at Nguludi pumping station.
This was announced by BWB Board chairperson Joe Ching’ani in the company of fellow Board members, Chief Executive Officer, Robert Hanjahanja and members of his senior staff at a media interface with media managers where they unpacked the turnaround strategy.
The interface at BWB boardroom
In their presentation on the turn around, BWB will require will thus require reduction of energy consumption and effect annual cost-reflective tariffs and to sustain the gains it shall earn in the long run, BWB will have to implement the independent power production, upgrade its Mudi Dam treatment plant, exploit off-peak pumping regimes and to invest in bottled water.
Currently, BWB has three main generation sources of water at Walkers Ferry (80%), Nguludi (12%) and Mudi at 8% but currently not as reliable as before.
The high ESCOM cost is through the long distance Walkers Ferry because of gradient which is further assisted by Kameza booster pumping station in Chileka.
The media managers at Nguludi pumping station
Nguludi’s source is gravity fed from Likhubula in Mulanje, which is straight from the river and the turn around strategy plans to construct a big reservoir dam at the source.
For this to be achieved, BWB needs to effect annual cost-reflective tariffs, which was implemented at an increase of 40% in June to be done in two phases with one scheduled in October.
Ching’ani said BWB’s “stand has always been never to compromise on standards in any way” adding that on this they “are proud to declare that our water is the safest, the cleanest and the purest”.
“Yet to get to that level, it requires use of resources of acceptable standards, quality and quantities. While costs of operations have kept rising over the years, the water tariff has remained below cost, thus choking operations.”
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Ching’ani emphasized that the BWB’s resolve still remains to maintain their Vision — which is to continue providing safe and consistent water supply; respond to faults in time; reduce and minimize situations of dry taps; efficiently accommodate new connections and to use durable materials.
“All these require financial resources — hence the need to use cost reflective tariffs and not cosmetic tariffs,” he emphasized, while also declaring that “for all low income customers, many areas of which are served by water kiosks, the tariff remains unadjusted — zero increase.
“This is to cushion any economic impact. When effecting the tariff increase, Blantyre Water Board has decided that all low income residential locations will have a zero increase. Thus, we are very sensitive to the plight of the financially vulnerable customers.
He justified the decision for the annual tariff assessment and possible increase by quoting the Water Works Act No 17 of 1995, section 35, on:
* (1) The Board shall make such charges as are approved, within a reasonable time, Board to by the Minister for the supply of quantities of water measured by meter, for the make charges rental of meters, or for the provision of other services. Such charges may differ in for supply of respect of different classes of water consumers;
* (2) Such charges shall be levied and enforced in accordance with rules made by the Minister;
* (3) Such rules may provide for — (a) different rates being fixed and levied in respect of different classes of premises or parts thereof; (b) rates to be increased in response to price inflation;
* (4) A schedule showing the tariff of rates and charges payable to the Board shall be available for inspection at the offices of the Board and shall be advertised in such 15 other manner as the Minister may, on the advice of the Board, prescribe.
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Mid this month, ESCOM disclosed it is has been struggling to execute some of its operations due to the K35 billion debt which BWB owed the corporation in unpaid arrears.
However, CEO Hanjahanja said government has bailed them out, saying they were failing to service the ESCOM bills because they were operating at a loss due to high costs of power, chemicals and all other operational costs — thus the need to effect cost effective tariff charges for it to remain a commercial parastatal that is not subverted by government.
ESCOM is also in the process of adjusting its electricity tarrif base for 2023-2027 period having incurred K87 billion in additional costs, which affected its revenue and that as a result of the revenue deficit in the year 2018-2022 base tarrif period, the statutory company underperformed in some of the key performance indicators.
BWB Board of Directors and management
BWB was established in 1929 and reconstituted in 1995, that supplies potable water to Blantyre City and rural areas, parts of Chiradzulu and Thyolo Districts — a population of over 1.4 million which has over 74,000 connections.
It has aged network infrastructure, which needs to be upgraded while other challenges include illegal water connections, meter tampering, corruption, faulty and aged water meters and prepaid meter challenges — which are contributors to BWB’s low performance.
Having effected the water tariff adjustment at at 40% from June, there will be annual adjustment of 10% from April 2024 and to reduce short term liabilities by 20% annually from K39.1 billion; improve sales volumes by 46%; reduce operational costs by 70% and increase customer base by 24,000.
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amazing!!!