AVRL PERFORMANCE - AVRL GENERATES GHC 20 MILLION FOR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

Aqua Vitens Rand Ltd (AVRL), operator of Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL) registered remarkable financial figures for 2008, including a 121 per cent increase in net operating surplus over the past two years.

AVRL posted a net operating surplus of GHc20.0 million last year compared to GH¢ 13.4 million in 2006 and GHc1.9 million in 2005 when their management contract was signed.

“The important issue here is that it allows us to provide Ghana Water Company Limited with surplus funds to spend on capital investments, such as expansion of treatment plants and laying new pipes. This allows GWCL to increase access to treated water which the Ghanaian people desperately need,” said AVRL Managing Director, Andrew Barber.

Under the management contract, GWCL has ceded day-to-day operations to AVRL, whilst GWCL which owns all the facilities and is responsible for the building of new assets. AVRL’s mandate includes the production and distribution of water, billing and revenue collection on behalf of GWCL.

AVRL is a non-profit operation paid for from a World Bank grant. It has currently engaged four expatriate Directors working alongside 3,000 Ghanaians seconded from GWCL. AVRL was established as a Corporate Social Responsibility project by its Dutch and South African shareholders, both of whom are state owned. Their aim is to help Ghana achieve its water and sanitation targets under the Millennium Development Goals.

“We are mindful that, last year, Government increased water tariffs by 60%. However, this only assisted in offsetting the significant increases in the cost of purchasing electricity and chemicals, which are two of our main expenditures. The impressive growth we are experiencing is therefore very real and not simply the effect of tariff increases” said Mr Barber.

Other key efficiency performance indicators support the success story, the collection ratio for 2008 was 93 per cent compared to 79 per cent in 2005. The cost of treating water with chemicals has fallen by almost 50% over the last two years whilst maintaining water quality. Power consumption is down by 7 per cent whilst labour productivity rates and training days per staff have all improved.

AVRL/GWCL’s performance is borne out by a report issued by an independent water and sanitation consultant, appointed as contract expert, in December 2008. The report concluded: “it is evident that the contractual arrangement is achieving solid results... it seems likely that the benefits of the Private Sector Participation (PSP) arrangement will become even more apparent during the remaining period of the contract.”


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For further information contact:

Stanley Martey
Communications Manager
AVRL-the Operator

0244 336 180

Last changed: Feb 18 2009 at 7:33 AM