… governor to address complaints
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has asked Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State to review the charges imposed on boreholes drilled by private businesses in Lagos, by the state water regulatory commission.
Frank Jacobs, president of MAN, who led members of council on a visit to the governor, Thursday, said the resort to boreholes was a consequence of the inadequacy of public water supply, and therefore the imposition of charges amounted to businesses paying for government’s failure.
According to Jacobs, “we have received complaints from our members of charges up to N800,000 by the water regulatory commission” a development he described as a burden on businesses which are groaning under the current economic recession and high operating costs.
“We are constrained to draw your attention to recent activities of the Lagos State water regulatory commission, on which we have received numerous complaints and petitions from our members. It is pertinent to draw your attention to the fact that there is no country in Africa and for that matter any state in Nigeria that is charging licensing fee for borehole or any charge for water abstraction. The association believes that the state has the responsibility to provide water for which the citizens would pay.
“Companies are forced to provide their own water because of the inadequacy of public water supply. Asking companies to pay for this would appear that we are being penalised for making up for the inadequacy of government to provide this vital utility. We are requesting that the law should be reviewed in a way that companies wishing to sink boreholes should pay a moderate permit while companies whose lines of business involve sale of water or water based products should pay a moderate one-off licensing fee.”
Governor Ambode responding acknowledged the difficulty associated with making water available to all in the state, but said his administration in the past two years had strived to create an atmosphere favourable to businesses.
According to Ambode, the state requires about 720 million gallons of water per day, but currently has capacity to produce 210 million, leaving a deficit of about 500 million gallons.
It would be recalled that the present administration since assumption of office had intensified investments in the water sector, especially by putting measures in place to revamp the 48 mini-water works across the state to produce at 100 percent, while works on the Adiyan major water works had reached advanced stage.
The governor said ever since coming on board, conscious efforts have been made towards improving on the business environment by investing in critical sectors such as infrastructure, security, traffic management, among others, saying that investment in the water sector too had been huge.
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