The Public Utility and Regulatory Commission (PURC) says the water committee in parliament has no locus to meddle in the recently announced and yet-to-be-introduced pilot prepaid water metering system by the Ghana water company.

Speaking to Joy News, a source at the PURC, stressed that the committee cannot seek to interfere in the operations of the Ghana Water Company because the issue is out of their scope of jurisdiction.

The rebuttal from the PURC follows a warning issued to the Water Company by the Parliamentary Committee for Water, Works and Housing, not to roll out the proposed pilot pre-paid metering system.  

The parliamentary committee chair, David Tetteh Asumeng says a letter has been dispatched from the Clerk of the Committee to the Water Company over its proposed plan.

Speaking to Joy News to explain the decision taken by the committee, Mr. Tetteh Asumeng noted that before the project is introduced, citizens needed to be educated to have a faire idea of the advantages and disadvantages of the system and arrive at some consensus as to whether or not to introduce it.

According to him, the outcome of a similar project introduced in Tema some years ago is unknown and therefore the company could not continue to experiment with the project.

"This is an issue that we need to discuss further and all stakeholders must be on board to discuss this because it is a major policy issue", Mr. Tetteh Asumeng intimated.

Meanwhile, speaking to Joy News' Elton John Brobbey, the public affairs director at the Ghana Water Company, Micheal Agyeman noted that the company will consider the merits of the concerns raised by the parliamentary committee when the letter is received.

He however wondered why there is a "hue and cry" about the project, which is just going to be piloted to see its success or otherwise.

According to Mr. Agyeman, the project will not be introduced in compound houses but estate houses, adding that the system introduced in Tema that encountered challenges was done by a private businessman and not the Ghana Water Company.