Hostel tenants cry foul over water woes

TENANTS of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) hostel at Waigani in Port Moresby have been without water since last December after Eda Ranu cut their water supply due to non payment of water bills by NHC. 
They have been fetching water from a broken meter joint behind the hostel for the last two months.
Since then, despite the frustration, we had to stand in long queues everyday after work to fetch water to wash, cook and do laundry, a concerned tenant said.
She said with cholera now detected in the city and other water borne diseases likely to be caught considering such experience, their lives were at risk.
“Mipela peim rent bilong hostel na Eda Ranu i go katim wara bikos NHC no peim wara bil (We have been paying rents but Eda Ranu cut the water supply because NHC failed to pay the water bills),” she said.
Though the tenants raised the matter with the hostel’s management, they had done nothing but referred the tenants to the NHC management.
“This is not the first time for the hostel to experience water problems,” she said, “we faced a similar problem last year”.
Eda Ranu yesterday said NHC owed them K45,000 in outstanding water bills when the  water was first disconnected last Dec 15.
Last Dec 17, NHC paid K15,000, which reduced the amount to K30,000.
However, the bill has gone up again to K33,000, an increase of K3,000 after the last two months.
A representative of Eda Ranu said they were a business entity and could not afford to be lenient in its decision making.
NHC could not be reached for comments.