By Sulaiman Jalloh

Guma Valley Water Company has said ministries, departments and agencies own the company Thirty-Two Million Leones (NLe32m) of accumulated unpaid water bills. Guma Valley was making a budget presentation at the ongoing 2025 budget hearing at the Ministry of Finance in Freetown.

The public water company underscored the need for timely payment of water bills to support ongoing water services, reporting that the company generated about SLE 33.6 million from January to June this year, while requesting for NLE93 million for the 2025 financial year. This budget, Guma noted will facilitate several key projects, including the installation of 15,000 customer meters and an increase in tariffs to cover rising costs for fuel and chemicals.

Guma Valley mentioned it has made significant strides in improving water infrastructure, noting that under the Freetown WASH project, awarded to China Henan Int. Coop Group in October 2021, the company is working on enhancing water capacity and infrastructure, includes the completion of two raw water intake weirs, a 45 km network distribution, a 2,000m³ treated water reservoir, and approximately 2,000 ongoing service connections.

It added that recent achievements also include the repair of critical infrastructure such as the Kongo Dam and various pumping stations, with investments totaling $2.04 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB), adding that the company has rehabilitated multiple pumping stations and pipelines to improve service delivery.

The Guma Valley Water Company said it aims to increase access to safe drinking water by 85% by 2028, address customer complaints related to billing and leakage, and reduce non-revenue water by 10%, saying the company is committed to protecting water catchment areas, including the Freetown Peninsula Park, and reclaiming lost facilities through stakeholder engagement.