WASA says Moka residents must pay for repairs to leaking sewerage plant

The Chief executive Officer (CEO) of the Water and Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) said Thursday residents of Fairview, Moka will have to bear the cost of repairs for the leaking sewerage plant in their community.

Ganga Singh. Singh made the statement at an on-site media briefing. He told reporters WASA does not own the treatment plant which the developer of the housing estate built. he noted that once the development project was completed the developer abandoned the plant.

“This is a classic case, creating a development with the necessary infrastructure and then abandoning it having sold the plots...There are over 200 similar plants up for adoption by WASA,” he said.

He said the leak of raw sewerage from Moka into the Maraval river is putting more strain on the utility’s water treatment plant in Maraval to provide lean the water for distribution. 

He explained that Maraval has one of the highest concentrations of chlorine in it’s pipe-borne water, because of the poor quality of water being processed by the treatment plant.

Singh assured reporters that WASA would take over the Moka plant to ensure it is maintained properly. However he said residents of the Fairview Development would have to bear tyhe cost of getting the plant properly running again.

The Moka Residents Association told reporters the people living there have spent more than $700,000 of their own money over the past six to seven years to repair the plant. One representative confirmed that the developer just abandoned the plant and the residents had to look after it.

David Belgrave said WASA was approached several years ago to take over the plant but the authority refused although the residents' association raised the funds and bought the plant up to the required standards.