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‘Run water agency from rates collected’ – Hon Julian Fraser RA

- 3rd District Rep accompanied Minister for Communications & Works Hon Mark H. Vanterpool on walkabout in Sea Cows Bay & Pleasant Valley to witness dilapidated infrastructure
Leader of the Opposition and Representative for the Third District Honourable Julian Fraser RA said the revenue collected from water services should be used to run the Water and Sewerage Department in the same way the electricity utility is run. Photo: VINO/File
The Third District Representative said that there has to be a better way to ensure accountability and to ensure people are serviced with water. Photo: VINO/File
The Third District Representative said that there has to be a better way to ensure accountability and to ensure people are serviced with water. Photo: VINO/File
According to Honourable Fraser, Minister Hon Mark H. Vanterpool “could not be happy with what he saw” as there were broken pipes rendering whole neighbourhoods “waterless for days” and the staff promising to have them fixed within days. Photo: VINO/File
According to Honourable Fraser, Minister Hon Mark H. Vanterpool “could not be happy with what he saw” as there were broken pipes rendering whole neighbourhoods “waterless for days” and the staff promising to have them fixed within days. Photo: VINO/File
SEA COWS BAY, Tortola, VI – Leader of the Opposition and Representative for the Third District Honourable Julian Fraser RA said the revenue collected from water services should be used to run the Water and Sewerage Department (W&SD) in the same way the electricity utility is run.

Honourable Fraser posted the message on his Facebook page on January 13, 2016 following a walkabout in Sea Cows Bay with Minister for Communications and Works Honourable Mark H. Vanterpool (R4) earlier that day.

“Today the Minister responsible for water took the time and went through Sea Cows Bay and Pleasant Valley to see for himself that the people were not getting water,” wrote Honourable Fraser.

According to him, the Minister “could not be happy with what he saw” as there were broken pipes rendering whole neighbourhoods “waterless for days” and the staff promising to have them fixed within days.

He said too that it was found that valves left turned off “because someone forgot to turn them back on,” again leaving whole neighbourhoods without water for days.

The former Minister for Communications and Works, Honourable Fraser, who successfully negotiated the Biwater deal to eliminate water woes in the territory but has seen his efforts resisted by Government's slothfulness in putting the necessary infrastructure in place as part of the deal for Biwater to distribute water across the island, said the people in Pleasant Valley could not get water because the pipe crossing the ghut at the bridge is broken. He noted that the Minister told him it would be repaired in the coming days.

“[These things the Minister] had to go and discover for himself today (January 13, 2016), after being told since Sunday January 10, 2016 that there was no water in the area,” he said.

The Third District Representative said there has to be a better way to ensure accountability and to ensure people are serviced with water.

“I think it is time that the revenue collected from water be used to run the agency (including salaries); responsible for supplying customers with water, much as is the case with electricity. No, water no money. This is the only way I see us stopping the practice of having whole neighbourhoods waterless for days, and sometimes weeks,” said Honourable Fraser.

Honourable Fraser had asked the question whether the water woes, which the people of the Third District are facing, were “natural or deliberate” and whether the difficulties were a deliberate attempt on the part of the National Democratic Party (NDP) Government to damage the reputation of BiWater, which Honourable Fraser brought to the territory during the last Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration.

14 Responses to “‘Run water agency from rates collected’ – Hon Julian Fraser RA”

  • bb (20/01/2016, 16:17) Like (4) Dislike (3) Reply
    He use to be minister of works
  • just asking... (20/01/2016, 16:28) Like (0) Dislike (1) Reply
    So it he calling for the dept to be a statutory body?
  • wize up (20/01/2016, 16:32) Like (4) Dislike (5) Reply
    freedom of the press can at times be very de-pressing; when this member was minster of works, areas in this territory were plague with water shortage; not even touching the issues with sewage under his ministry.... suddenly a few years in the opposition the member now have all the solutions to the same problems that he had the opportunity to fix.....
    • defence lawyer (20/01/2016, 18:36) Like (9) Dislike (0) Reply
      He brought in Biwater to solve all our water and sewage woes.
      • wize up (20/01/2016, 23:29) Like (1) Dislike (2) Reply
        @ defence lawyer; yes the man brought in biwater and he did so at the expense of the tax payers( over 40 million in liability)... just saying
  • ....... (20/01/2016, 19:22) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Ey, you all need a comment section for your cartoons. Pretty funny I must admit....
  • LaLa (20/01/2016, 19:56) Like (3) Dislike (2) Reply
    the rates government are charging for water are not sufficient to cover the cost of providing water. Fraser knows this!!!! perhaps instead of entering into the bi-water 'deal' money should have been spent on improving the distribution system!
  • apple pie (20/01/2016, 22:19) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Best of luck to you Frazer with these NDPs, may you continue to reap success continually!
    One Love!
  • S.R. (21/01/2016, 07:49) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    The water is run like everything else here. Run it correctly and things will smooth out. It will take years to fix all the problems, but this is where money needs to be put, not on cruise ship piers!!
  • Tola Man (21/01/2016, 09:31) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    u cant fix things when the men dont have supplies to do their jobs


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