Minister: Tobago hoteliers, guest house owners must pay WASA bills

KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY

Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales is calling on tourism stakeholders on the southwestern part of  Tobago to pay the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).
Gonzales made the statement as he addressed the commissioning ceremony for the Signal Hill– Store Bay Road pipe-laying project on Monday at Pascall Village in Lambeau.

“We have done a lot of work. Ee have invested millions of dollars to improve your supply of water. I am asking you kindly, the money that you are owing WASA in your dues, please pay the authority. I am sure if WASA conducts an audit of all the customers, especially the guesthouse operators, all of them are owing the authority.”

He added: “The government of TT, we have put our monies where our mouths are and we have invested millions of dollars to improve your supply. All we are asking you is to pay the authority the rates that are due to it so that we can continue to provide you with a reliable supply of water – a very, very simple undertaking. I am asking every single guesthouse operator in southwest Tobago, now that we have spent over $20 million to improve your supply of water closer to 24/7, to do your responsibility right now and pay the authority the fees that are due to them.”

The project entails laying 7.6 kilometres of transmission pipeline from Signal Hill to Bon Accord which allows WASA, according to the head of WASA Tobago Brian Williams, to send water into southwest Tobago from a number of different sources under varying conditions.

“Traditionally, southwest Tobago is a hub for tourism thrust, which is where our economic thrust is. We normally see the holiday season – Easter, Christmas – a lot of these times it coincides with periods of lowest supply to the area, because the area is traditionally supplied by the Courland Water treatment plant, which is adversely affected in terms of flow and our ability to transmit and deliver during the dry season.”

Gonzales said over the last three years, the country has been suffering from a lack of water, but the ministry has been tackling the problem consistently.

“This is our third or fourth visit on this beautiful island over the past three years – doing what we must, to bring a more reliable supply of water to many of our communities.”

He said it has not been an easy journey, adding that there are so many people in the country satisfied with the status quo, adding that “not having water means that someone with a water-trucking contract with WASA or with the State can make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.

“So why change the situation? Why try to give people a consistent supply of water when I can make my millions? So there are people and there are interests all over Trinidad and Tobago who are invested in this function, who are vested in people not getting the requisite services from various government departments because they would benefit and thrive as a result.
"But we are motivated by different things, we are about solving problems all over.”

He said to date, close to $80 million has been spent on projects to improve the supply of water to the people of Tobago.

MP for Tobago West and Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe said  previously “no one could have relied on WASA schedule to save your life.

“I think, I’m sure, that other people from Tobago can relate that we have indeed come a long way. When I walked for elections in 2016 for the first time, the issue was water. You go to places like Patience Hill, Signal Hill, Whim – the issue was water.

"We have come a long way to now providing water, not just providing a reliable service but also at a pressure when water would come in the house – that’s where we’ve been.

"I’m saying it’s not perfect today, but we have to commend WASA, we have to commend the Ministry of Public Utilities that we have certainly come a long way.”