The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) says it will cut water supply to some schools, security services and public institutions in the Central Region.

This is due to the failure of these institutions to settle debts they owe the company.

Joy News’ Central Regional correspondent Richard Nyarko reports that the government subvented organisations, as well as other private individuals, owe the GWC some È»30 million.

The Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing has contracted a transaction adviser to look at how the monies are going to be retrieved to save the company from operational deficit.

The company has subsequently served notice to the tertiary institutions, Senior High schools, Security Services and the Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to pay their debts or face disconnections.

Regional Commercial Manager of the company, Abraham Adjei Kwarteng says private institutions and individuals owe the company about Ȼ6.1 million at the end of February.

Government institutions owe over Ȼ23 million while tertiary institutions owe a total of Ȼ8.5 million. The University of Cape Coast (UCC) owes Ȼ6.6 million out of this amount.

MMDAs and Security Services owe Ȼ2.3 million and Ȼ5.5 million respectively. Second cycle institutions on the other hand, owe Ȼ6.4 million.

According to the GWC all efforts to retrieve the debts from these government subvented institutions have been met with excuses that Government, which is supposed to fund them to pay off their debts, has not redeemed its promise through budgetary allocations.

But Mr Kwarteng says the company has no option than to disconnect water supply to these facilities.

He said if the debts are not paid, the company will be unable to buy chemicals to treat the water and this might have severe consequences on the production of water.

He added that the company will also not be able to pay debts it owes the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Some heads of the education institutions who spoke to Richard Nyarko maintained that they were contemplating passing on the cost to students.

The disconnections are part of the company’s strategy to retrieve monies owed it by some consumers.

Last week the company cut water supply to three public institutions in the Ashanti Region over their failure to pay their bills.

Water supply to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) was also disconnected but later restored, after authorities there paid a Ȼ6 million debt it owed the company.