Janha: We've increased the evacuation to over 90 percent, the debtors are being sent to the master.

Debt on Regional Water Company “Pristina” continues to be high. There are over 45m euros in debt accumulated from post-war to now that consumers have this company. While hundreds of cases have already ended up in the master, for years they have failed to pay their water bills.

Chief head of the Regional Water Company “Pristina”, Sokol Xhafa, in an interview for KosovaPress, has spoken of the challenges the company he is handling, the challenges these inherited but also created by the Codavi-19 pandemic.

The first of the CRU “Pristina” says that despite multimillion debt, they are able to keep drinking water supply for consumers at a satisfactory level.

He says that this year they have managed to increase the transfer rate to over 90 percent, as at the beginning of his mandate was quite low.

“We have managed to stabilise the company as far as the account is concerned, because the moment I took office in March and April we had a drastic drop in detention. Now we have managed to send the inspection to 90 percent and over 90 percent this year, which is a good result and offers stability for the company. We have managed to reverse the credit share as our commitment to the German investment bank. We have managed to restore the trust of foreign donors, and this is the most important”, he says.

Xhafa says that during the time of the pandemic, they created facilities for consumers, enabling them to reprogram their debts.

However, it adds that many did not take advantage of this opportunity and that more than 700 cases have been forced to proceed to the master.

The majority of debtors who have been sent to completion are businesses that have not been obliged during the pandemic to face difficulties. At first, we have facilitated reprogramming their debts by reducing from 50 percent of the first tranche to reprogram debts to 20 percent of all businesses as a relief measure because of pandemic. All who have reflected have not been sent to completion, the rest that their businesses have not had obstacles during the pandemic have been sent to completion. There are over 700 cases that have been submitted to completion. Most in the first month of the year that were businesses that were not hit by pandemics. The rest are guests who haven't reflected for years on payments”, he says.

According to Xhafa, consumer debt totals over 45m euros. More than 2 million says that they gathered only during the Covid-19 pandemic.

KRU chief manager “Presin, says this company is not profitable and that the entire injection is used for maintenance, capital investments and asset renewal so that consumers can have satisfactory supply and affordable costs.

The total “Borgi since the post-war until now is over 45m euros to our company. Only during the pandemic is it over 2.2. Millions of euros in accumulated debts that indicate that we have relatively large unpaid bills and that this endangers the company. We're obliged to send the Master because ultimately we have to make sure that our assets and infrastructure are renewed every year. Because all the payments consumers make isn't that they end up somewhere else, but they just convert to consumer services”, he says.

Another problem facing KRU “Pristina” is also the issue of flooding, which is creating a riot in conulating lakes, unable to supply regular drinking water.

However, Xhafa says that the problem has been recorded, and there will be no such obstacles already.

It ensures that even in the consumer flood season, there will be no more than 2 hours without water.

“We've got chemical elements, we've added a few more stages of treatment, with which if the company had so far potentially faced water supply cuts for more than a day or two, now this period is exceeded by 4 to 5 hours maximum and treatment is restored. In addition, we have changed the working regime that, in the moments leading up to the flow of rainfall or flood potential, we make an earlier warning to water treatment plants, all potential capacities are filled, and the consumer is 100 percent convinced that he will not feel the lack of water more than 2 hours, even in the most extreme cases of flooding, or the cause of trouble”, he says.

With the aim of protecting lakes and Xhafa rivers, it is said they have started with the master-planned and feasibility of contaminated water collectors, which will be completed in next year and will pave the way for all rehabilitation and reconstruction of sewage collectors for Pristina, Fushe Kosovo, Obilic and part of Gracanica.

This project under Xhafa will catch the 50m-euro cost of EU grant in co-operation with the German Development Bank