The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Government is aiming to undertake more $14 million in sewerage infrastructure works on New Providence, the Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday, once the work is masterplanned.

During his contribution to the 2013-2014 Budget debate, Philip Davis said the Government was getting set to launch a procurement exercise to addresses regulatory reform of the water sector. The Uilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) is expected to assume regulatory control of that sector.

“An additional initiative pending is the award of a contract for wastewater consultants to prepare a master plan for New Providence, and to assess the conditions of the existing sewerage infrastructure. Subsequent to this exercise, the procurement will begin for over $14 million of sewage infrastructure works on New Providence,” said Mr Davis.

He added that while operational revenue at the Water & Sewerage Corporation remaiedn steady at $42 million, customer collection remains a challenge.

“The total subsidy for subvention for the 2012-2013 year was $29.7 million, which is about $4.9 million off the previous year’s subvention of $34.6 million,” Mr Davis said.

“It should be noted that $27.3 million of the subsidy has been allocated to pay for desalinated water purchases, and the remainder is for debt services.

“The reduction of $4.9 million in cash subvention has contributed to over $10 million currently owed to Water & Sewerage’s largest supplier of desalinated water, along with smaller amounts owed to various other suppliers of goods and services,” he added.T

“The Corporation has presented a package of cost containment and revenue enhancement measures for consideration, and is relying considerably on the successful and timely implementation of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan initiative. A subvention in the amount of $20 million is allocated for the 2013-2014 Budget, and hopefully this will be able to suffice for that period.”

Mr Davis said the Water & Sewerage Corporation had undertaken several projects over the past fiscal year.

“These include the replacement of approximately 50,000 feet of pipe work in New Provenience at a cost of nearly $1.5 million to primarily address water quality and service low pressure challenges,” he added.

“Furthermore, high efficiency pump motors were installed at major New Providence water pumping stations as part of an energy efficiency initiative, and that has contributed to aiding the cost of producing water.

“A $10 million loan was secured from the National Insurance Board (NIB) for the construction of the wastewater treatment plant at Gladstone Road.

“A $7.5 million contract was awarded to a Bahamian joint venture company to design and build a one million imperial gallons per day water treatment plant.”

Mr Davis said the plant is expected to be completed in early 2014, and will service Baha Mar and neighbouring subdivisions.

He added that the Israeli firm, Miya, had completed its studies and had commenced a pilot project as part of its non-revenue water reduction effort.