B.W.S. manoeuvres for rate increase

And the Ministry of Health is not the only government body complaining about water. Minister of Public Utilities, Ralph Fonseca is up in arms about what appears to be a case of extortion by Belize Water Services Limited. In a televised statement delivered late this evening, B.W.S. Director and former CEO, Peter Wrench complains that since purchasing WASA from Government earlier this year his new management team has discovered hidden defects in the company’s infrastructure, the repair of which has left B.W.S. short on revenue and long on expenses. The only realistic answer, he says, is to raise rates or fire a hundred workers. Replying to Wrench’s plans in a press release of his own, Ralph Fonseca has emphatically denied the allegations, saying in effect that when B.W.S’s parent company, CASCAL, bought the WASA operation it knew full well what it was getting into and pledged to invest one hundred and forty million dollars in capital improvements as part of the deal. CASCAL made it clear, according to Fonseca, that they were investing for the long term and it would take time and dedication to bring the company to profitability.