Tag Archives: LWB Chief Executive Officer Engineer Alfonso Chikuni

Business, Top News

Airtel money pairs with Lilongwe Water Board on prepaid electronic bill payments

Maravi Post Reporter

By Patience Abeck

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s leading Airtel Malawi has partnered with Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) in electronic bill payments to their customers.

The development comes following recent reports from the Reserve Bank on electronic money payments hitting a record MK100 billion per day.

This has promoted Airtel pairing utility service provider LWB on a bill payment service option for the Water Board’s prepaid water meter system.

Airtel Managing Director, Charles Kamoto told The Maravi Post through a press statement that the bill payment service will work by allowing LWB  customers to make payments on the Airtel Money platform *211# and instantly receive a token, for their prepaid meters in order to access potable water in the city of Lilongwe.

“After Lilongwe Water Board introduced the prepaid water bill system to cater to the evolving needs of its customers, we did not hesitate to integrate the two systems in order to give our customers the chance to conveniently purchase water tokens on the Airtel Money platform and experience more financial freedom with their mobile money wallets,” explained Kamoto.

LWB Chief Executive Officer Engineer, Alfonso Chikuni therefore lauded Airtel Money for bringing convenience to their prepaid customers.

“Now our customers will spend less time on acquiring water tokens as they will now be able to purchase them right from their mobile phones,” Chikuni said.

Lilongwe Water Board is one of Airtel Money’s veteran bill payment partners since the year 2014 and is one of Airtel Money’s 6 utility bill partners in addition to Escom, Blantyre Water Board, Northern Region Waterboard, Southern Region Waterboard, and Central Region Waterboard

Health, Malawi, Top News

LWB teams up with LCC on US$102m water and sanitation project; targets 8,000 facilities

Maravi Post Reporter

LILONGWE-The Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) in conjunction with Lilongwe City Council (LCC) is embarking on a Lilongwe water and sanitation project (LWSP) that will see city dwellers accessing improved water and safely managed sanitation services.

With financial support from World Bank totaling to US$102 Million which was approved in December 2017, the initiative, city residents expects provision of a minimum of 18 hour water supply, meeting GoM water quality standards, average pressure of 12m for no less than 300 days in a year.

The funding rationale; US$75 Million (IDA Credit), US$25 Million (IDA Grant) and US$2 Million (Borrower) the project will focus on four critical components including water distribution network rehabilitation, expansion and NRW reduction, priority sanitation improvements, technical Assistance and institutional capacity strengthening.

LWB Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Alfonso Chikuni told the media orientation in the capital Lilongwe on Friday that the project will lead to improvement of quality of services to the residents of Lilongwe City that currently receive intermittent services, without necessarily increasing the volume of water produced.

Engineer Chikuni emphasized the need for the public to understand the initiative which it will community based during implementation.

The LWB chief therefore assured city dwellers of full investments in priority network rehabilitation aimed at eliminating bottlenecks and increase hydraulic capacity of the existing network (142 Km; “this will pressure management to reduce water losses”

He therefore observed that LWB and LCC recognize the role of key stakeholders including the media in implementation of the project for successful realization of the project objectives hence the orientation. .
“The project will lead to improvement of quality of services to the residents of Lilongwe City that currently receive intermittent services, without necessarily increasing the volume of water produced.
However, investments in water supply requires corresponding investment in sanitation to ensure non-contamination of treated water.

“The project’s priority investments including: rehabilitation and expansion of the sewerage network (107km); rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing Kauma sewage treatment plant; construction of improved sanitation facilities in 10 markets and 10 schools; support to construction of 8,000 improved sanitation facilities targeting the poor and vulnerable households and sanitation marketing campaigns,” assures Chikuni.

Currently, the board is waiting presentation of Loan Authorization Bill to Malawi Parliament to kick start the project within the 90 days after the August House’ funds approval.