Nawec will disconnect defaulting state enterprises – MD Fatajo

By Tabora Bojang The National Water and Electricity Company has threatened to disconnect its power supply to various unnamed state-owned and public enterprises for unpaid electricity bills amounting to over D500M. The list, which is not disclosed to the press, includes some state-owned enterprises and local authorities such as municipal and area councils across the country. Speaking on the matter at a press briefing, managing director of Nawec Baba Fatajo revealed that Nawec has exhausted all possible avenues to recover these unpaid bills and has no alternative way but to cut off electricity supplies to the enterprises concerned. “Nawec cannot continue to take exorbitant loans from banks to sustain its operation costs when it is being owed millions by the state enterprises,” he lamented. “We want to send a strong message that it’s not going to be business as usual. Nawec is not a philanthropic organisation. We are here for business and we can only be in business when our services are paid for. We are facing serious challenges in collecting our bills and this is becoming untenable and has got to a point where we have no option but to cut them off,” Fatajo told journalists Fatajo warned that if this reluctance in settling arrears continues, Nawec will be forced to shut down its operations because it will fail in fulfilling its commitment to its fuel suppliers. “We have utilised all diplomatic avenues to put sense in them to honour their dues but they are not doing it because they take us for granted for the simple reason that they are state owned enterprises,” he said. He said Nawec would rather scale down its operations to make sure it supplies its ‘trusted customers who are being very proactive in settling their bills because it]]>