The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported that Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali is aiming to introduce the system at the ministry with effect from May 4.

According to GINA, Ali explained that the current system is lengthy, but this fully automated system will enable application processing in a very short period.

“Once you’ve got all the right documentation and it is verified and completed to get your acknowledgement letter then applications can be processed,” he stated

The Minister said that this new procedure will produce better service to customers in a very effective and efficient manner.

“We are very excited about the opportunity since this would generate better service to our clients,” he said.

In addition, Ali said the Guyana Water Incorporated’s billing system will be revamped in a month’s time to ensure efficiency and improve customer services.

“The second objective that we have in the very immediate future, in a month’s time, is to clean up the billing system. We’ve had a lot of concerns raised about people receiving wrong bills and so on…We are going to clean that system up,” he said.

He advised that customers who are receiving bills that are inaccurate should visit the GWI’s Divisional Office to have them queried.

“We have just concluded a level of service report on every single village in the country. The acting CEO of GWI is actively engaged in visiting communities and for the next two weeks he will be in the fields visiting communities listening to their concerns and trying to generate enough information that would inform our decision making process. This will give us an idea of the prioritize structure in which we will have to work,” Minister Ali said.

Another issue which will be addressed with urgency will be leak repairs and breakages in pipelines.

“We are developing right now an action plan aimed at doing justice…so in another month or two, (there will be) a very hectic schedule in the water and housing sector. We are wary of distractions from uninformed persons…We have a focus and that is to deliver our services to the best for all the people out there…that would be our focus,” the minister declared.