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Richard Bilocca wants to talk shit. He wants to explain why after six years of profits, the Water Services Corporation still needs a government subvention, and that it is going to go up yet again next year, from €17.2 million to €19.3 million, even thougWSC subsidy not for water production but for drainage and environment - CEO
Richard Bilocca wants to talk shit. He wants to explain why after six years of profits, the Water Services Corporation still needs a government subvention, and that it is going to go up yet again next year, from €17.2 million to €19.3 million, even though the corporation had a record turn-over. The issue is not water production but the cost of providing drainage, for which people are not directly charged, as well as the various environmental services provided by the corporation. “We do not make a loss on the production of water – in spite of the fact that the tariffs are socially engineered to encourage lower usage,” the CEO told The Sunday Times of Malta. The corporation, which until 2003 had only provided and distributed water, had taken over the Drainage Department pretty much lock, stock and barrel. And the costs there have been getting higher and higher, reaching about €18 million a year. This is because treatment of the sewage has become much more expensive since EU accession dramatically raised the standards. Sewage treatment is also, Mr Bilocca stressed, a very energy-intensive process. “If we were to add up all the services that we provide over and above tap water and... Read more