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CCNTV6
  • 2 years ago
A water racket has been uncovered in Tobago and according to some residents, it has emerged from within the Water and Sewerage Authority.


It begins with a call for a truck-borne supply and ends with payment of money to a WASA contractor. Residents told TV6 that if you are not willing to pay, you will receive no water. More in this Elizabeth Williams report.
Transcript
00:00 We've heard of water rackets in Trinidad, but this might be the first time we were hearing
00:06 of one in Tobago.
00:08 Some residents fed up of the situation spoke with TV6 News.
00:13 Wassa customers in Tobago West told TV6 News that the schedule put out by the authority
00:20 appears bogus as customers have had to wait for as many as six days to get pipe on water.
00:27 One customer in Idlewide said after calling Wassa's hotline number repeatedly for a week,
00:33 she was told that the list for truck-borne water was long.
00:36 In addition, the operator told her that she could not say when she would receive the truck-borne
00:42 water as the list is very long.
00:46 She said she was so frustrated that she decided to call around to friends to find out if they
00:52 knew anyone at Wassa.
00:54 It was then she was told that she could get on a preferred list of Wassa customers by
01:00 paying $166 directly at Wassa's Lowlands office.
01:05 Another customer from Moncks, Georgia said she too was frustrated as water came a few
01:11 nights for the week but not for long and not powerful enough to fill her tank.
01:17 She said a friend told her to contact someone at Wassa for water.
01:22 She said she was told that the water would cost $750.
01:27 The woman who answered the phone said it's $300 for her and $450 for Wassa and I could
01:34 pay them directly.
01:36 I told her it was a Sunday and Wassa was closed.
01:40 She told me she would collect the money and pay it to Wassa the next day, which was June
01:46 3.
01:47 Yet, another customer, this time from Bacolet, she said she was told that it would cost her
01:54 $1,000 to fill her tanks.
01:57 She has two 1,000 gallon and two 400 gallon tanks.
02:02 Some customers say they have contacted their area representative only to be told to call
02:08 the Wassa hotline.
02:10 TV6 News contacted Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzalez on the matter.
02:16 Minister Gonzalez has promised a full-scale investigation into or report.
02:22 This information is very, very troubling and now that I have this information at my disposal,
02:30 I will be ordering a full-scale investigation into the matter and would ensure that the
02:36 appropriate action be taken against anyone who is responsible for this scandalous kind
02:43 of behavior within the authority and staining the authority and undermining the trust that
02:54 the authority requires with its customers.
02:57 Minister Gonzalez said no stone would be left unturned in the matter.
03:02 So this matter is going to be thoroughly investigated and appropriate action will be taken.
03:07 It is not something that we will tolerate in the Ministry of Public Utilities and in
03:11 Wassa.
03:12 Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
03:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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