Chipata
Water and Sewerage Company Limited was
registered under the Compnay's Act in
June, 1992 with authorised capital of
K100,000. This was increased to
K500,000 and then to K2,000,000
throught statntory instrument number
99 and 100 of August, 1998.
The
paid up capital is only K500,000
divided into share-capital ofK5 each
and all the shares are owed by
the Chipata Municipal
Council. The unpaid
share-capital is now K1,500,00.
The
Company was formed with the principle
objective of providing water and
sewerage services within Chipata which
were hiterto the responsibility is now
of the Council. This was aimed
at inproving the quality of services
which would not be achieved under the
Council due to certain constraints in
particular the Following:
-
Diversion
of water sales revenue to other
areas of Council operations
resulting in a lack of funds
for water treatment chemiclas and
other inputs to maintain
operations.
-
Delays
in the approval of water tariff
increases due to bureacracy within
the local government system
resulting in tariffs lagging
behind operating costs.
-
In
Ability to recruit and retain
qualified staff due to
unafavourable and restrive local
government conditions of service./
-
Lack
of autonomy in decision making due
to political interference.
Following
its incorporation, the Company started
operating on 1st July 1992 with staff
taken over from the Council forming
the general workforce while senior
Management comprised the Consultants
who had been appointed by KFW to
undertake the formation of the Company
and to provide technical and
Commercial training to the Company
staff.
The
Consultants withdrew to advisory roles
after appointment of Zambians to
senior Management positions until
1994. However, the Company had
continued to benefit from Germany
financial assistance through the
provision of Consultancy services,
training and capital investments to
prove the water supply and sanitation.
Although
the Company's memorandum of Articles
prescribes the Company's activities to
effectively provide adequaate and
portable water supply and sewerage
services to customers within the
operating area, on long and
sustainable terms, it was agreed at
the inception that the Company should
initially only take over
responsibility for the operations of
the supply system and that operation
of the sewerage should in the interim
period remain the responsibility of
the Council. This was in
consideration of the dilapidated state
of the sewerage system which would
have imposed a financial burden on the
new Company. The rehabilitation
of water and sanitation was financed
by KFW and ended in 1999.
Historically,
the water supply system in Chipata
consisted of boreholes and a limited
distribution network which were later
supplemented by a dam and treatment
plant at Lutembwe I. A second
dam treatment plant services
reservoirs and an extended
distribution network were constructed
at Lutembwe II in 1985 to meet the
increasing demand through KFW
funding. Further, financial
assistance was provided in subsequent
years for rehabilitation of the
existing water supply system.
Despite this large investment however,
the waterr supply remained erratic and
the operations of the treatment plants
through the provision of training for
water works Operators and improving
financial sustainability by
re-organising the water undertaking
unit within the Councl. These
efforts did not however yield the
intended result, leading to a decision
to form an antonmous water Company.
