The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) is on a mission to sustainably and equitably provide cost effective quality water and sewerage services to the delight of all stakeholders while conserving the environment. The corporation intends to leave no stone unturned when it comes to ensuring that all people of Uganda are served. Rich and poor, old and young, NWSC is dedicated to all.
Kampala Water’s Urban-Poor customers happen to be the most vulnerable due to the hazardous locations characterized by but not limited to; poor housing, high population, and an unhygienic environment which has led to a flood of deadly diseases like cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, and more.
Slum dwellers in Kisenyi Parish, Katanga and Bwaise lamented about trekking long distances but still unable to get clean safe water from the wells or springs, and instead settle for dirty disease infested ponds and trenches.
Against this background, NWSC created the Urban Pro-Poor Branch (UPPB). Not only as an institutional home for the poor but to ensure a healthy community through improving their standards of living.
UPPB operates in more than 600 villages in Kampala metropolitan area serving a population of over 4M with clean and safe water at an affordable price of UGX25 per 20 liter jerrycan
In addition to the Public StandPipes, NWSC embarked on installation of pre-paid meters (PPM) to overcome some of the challenges which were associated with PSPs for instance exploitation of customers through caretakers who hiked prices, monopolization, amongst others. Additionally, with PPM a person who has a token can receive volumes of water proportional to the exact amount of money he/she has recharged.
The Ag. Billing Engineer Kisenyi, Mr. David Kiige says that before installation, supervision is key and this is done through community engagements.
However, with the help of a dedicated workforce, the Urban Pro-Poor Branch has been able to install over 1000 PPMs in different parts of Kampala. This, according to the Manager UPPB, Mr. Siragi Bassajja.
According to the Manager Pro-Poor Services and Community Collaboration, Mr. John Bosco Otema, the initiative is far from profit driven but rather looks at providing clean and safe water to the urban poor.
However, the corporation faces challenges while implementing the Pro-Poor initiative some of which include but are not limited to; land ownership, high costs of maintenance, congested houses which make installation and maintenance quite hard.
Reliable and sustainable service delivery is at the heart of NWSC.
