News

Delve deeper WAF told

March 21, 2023 12:45 pm

The Minister for Finance has this morning told the Water Authority of Fiji to look deeply into how it is managing its finances.

Professor Biman Prasad made the comment while opening the ideation workshop for Fiji’s “Water Sector Strategy 2050” this morning.

Prasad says over the past five years, $1.12 billion has been allocated to WAF, of which $421.7 million was for operating expenditure.

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“At the moment, we are told that around $25 million is spent on electricity costs and more than $25 million on staffing costs.” This is more than 50 percent of the operating budget of the authority. In my view, this needs careful scrutiny, and efficiency needs to be put into place to reduce the cost while improving the services.”

The Finance Minister says WAF has also been advised to streamline its activities and improve efficiency by increasing its operational efficiency.