The Vice-President, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, has advocated for the restructuring of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to enable it to offer efficient service to the public. He expressed concern over the constant demand by utility companies for higher tariffs, while their services were not commensurate with their request. He encouraged the service providers to improve on their services, saying that Ghana’s pride as an emerging market depended on the availability of power and water. Addressing a stakeholders’ meeting of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) on quality of service in the electricity and water sectors in Accra yesterday, Vice-President Mahama affined the government’s commitment to provide sovereign guarantees for the utility companies in their efforts at securing additional capital for their operations. He said the utility companies should ensure that such support reflected in their services to the public. Underscoring the importance of water in the lives of the people, the Vice-President said there was a direct correlation between water and the health of the people. “Water is life. It is an essential commodity that we can’t do without. There is, therefore, a direct correlation between what people drink and their health,” he said. Mr. Mahama also expressed concern over the rampant curtailment of utility supplies without adequate prior information and urged service providers to employ the services of mobile vans, in addition to advertising on radio and television. The Chairman of the PURC, Dr Emmanuel K. Annan, said the meeting would among other things, fashion out a way to address the challenges confronting the utilities and chart a way forward. Source: Daily Graphic