Bannister: No final decision yet on WSC fee increase

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister said yesterday the government has not settled on how much it will increase Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) fees, as it is still awaiting a study by an international consulting firm.

Last month, Minister of State for Finance Senator Kwasi Thompson said in an effort to make state-owned enterprises (SEO) more self-sufficient and dependent on government funding, higher fees would be introduced at WSC and Bahamasair.

Bahamasair has already implemented its new increases on domestic flight fares and international flight baggage fees, beginning last week on Monday.

Bannister said for now, a final decision has not been made in regard to the WSC.

“There is nothing. The studies are with the accounting firms and as soon as advice is proffered, Cabinet will make determinations as to where we go. Right now there are no determinations because we have to have all of the data before us, before we make decisions that would impact the Bahamian people. That type of thing is critical,” he said, adding that he does not know when the increase would be implemented.

“I wish I could tell these international accounting firms how long to do their studies, but they’re doing it thoroughly because they realize the implications. And as soon as they come back to us, we’ll be able to come back to you and tell you in a very frank manner.

“But at the same time that is happening, people in Long Island who have never had water in their homes are going to be getting water, as well as people in Cat Island. I know it’s hard for you to understand living in Nassau, but nobody in Cat Island has water coming into their homes. People go to pumps, they go to wells still in 2021. They are going to be getting water this year in their homes. These are the kinds of initiatives, even though we can’t do everything we want to do right now we are making sure that Bahamians still have a decent standard of living.”

The move to increase fees at WSC comes as the government seeks to reduce capital and recurrent expenditure by as much as $200 million. The government has revealed it spends as much as $400 million supporting SEOs.

Speaking to the cuts in capital spending, Bannister said it means several capital works projects planned will have to be postponed until there are more available funds.

“I can’t tell you which projects are on hold. What I can say is this, we have a worldwide pandemic, we have a worldwide recession that affects everybody. We created stimulus initiatives so that Bahamians could have the dignity of working. We have people who in the circumstances we face were not able to work for six to nine months. You see what’s happening in the UK. The UK was locked down all Christmas, Germany was on lockdown, you can see what’s happening in Barbados now. All of these countries are being impacted. Our tourism industry has been impacted, as a result of which all of the funding that we would like to have is not available,” he said.

“And so, for some of our capital works we have to be able to fall back on them. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to happen, it just means that we have to be very careful with how we spend the Bahamian people’s money. As we go along we anticipate being able to do more of them. The ones that have started are going to continue, but the ones that have not started – and we have many in the pipeline – we have to hold off until there’s funding available.

“The minister of state for finance indicated that there is $100 million in capital works that is going to be held back over many ministries. That impacts us severely but that is just what we have to do in these circumstances.”

The government was heavily criticized by the Opposition in 2019 for holding back on capital works projects as it slowed spending in an effort to shrink the deficit.

Early last year, the government vowed to implement various stimulus projects to “put money on the ground” and get the economy going again, particularly after the economic blow of Hurricane Dorian.

That was before the COVID-19 pandemic caused a fiscal crisis.

Despite these challenges and cuts, Bannister said some work continues in his ministry.

“If you go and see the parks in many of our communities, you will see work going on because it is critical for people to be outdoors in this pandemic. If you go in Englerston, almost every road in Englerston has sidewalks now to keep people safe. The stimulus initiatives that we have, the drainage initiatives that we have in communities, you can see what’s happening with those,” he said.

As for mass disconnections – either WSC or Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) – Bannister vowed there will be none in the near future as the country and citizens still reel from the economic impact of COVID-19.

“We’re not planning any mass disconnections anytime soon. But I still want to urge every Bahamian who has a financial obligation to those utilities to please go in and make arrangements if you can’t pay. But if you can pay please pay. That’s the only way the rest of us can continue to have power and continue to have water,” he said.

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