Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia has said the free water connection policy rolled out from April 1 will only be available to domestic use customers of the country’s five water boards.

The minister said this at a press conference in Lilongwe on Wednesday when announcing new guidelines for free water connections policy, one of the promises of the Tonse Alliance during the campaign for the court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election held on June 23 2020.

Mia: They are entitled for a year

Mia said: “Water applicants are entitled to free connection once a year and the free connection will cover a maximum distance of 24 metres from the service lines, but beyond that the applicant will cover costs.

“The pipe line will have a diametre of 15 millimetres or 20 millimetres and beyond that a full cost payment shall apply.”

She said applicants will also be required to produce national identification cards and proof of land ownership when making the application.

Mia said government was putting in place measures to fight abuse of the facility by engaging the Anti-Corruption Bureau to work with the water boards to fight abuse.

Asked what will happen to poor people who are far from the service lines, she said government plans to put more service lines to ensure that more people have access to water.

In his remarks, Minister of Information and Digitisation Gospel Kazako said government will require a lot of money to implement the programme; hence, there is need for Malawians to avoid being greedy.

He said: “Every household has to benefit. We need to think of others as well. You cannot have the same family applying for so many connections when others have not even benefited.”

Speaking in an interview, Water Service Association of Malawi president Robert Hanjahanja, who is also Blantyre Water Board chief executive, assured Malawians that the water boards are ready to implement the free water connection.

He said: “The boards will be injecting about K10 billion per year in the exercise.” President Lazarus Chakwera announced the programme on March 31 this year and it came into effect on April 1 2022.

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