Profit margins for Water PNG (WPNG) have been low this year on the back of a poor performing economy.
Board Chairman, William Sweet, told Loop PNG that 2016 has been a challenging year for them as they have not been able to meet all their targets.
This largely due to non-payment of services.
“A lot of profit margins have dropped simply because payments are owed, and a lot of them are government facilities.
“But we also have some private sectors that are also struggling and so we appreciate that times are a bit hard at the moment so we are trying to be patient but at the same time we all have to earn the money to pay for the services,” says Sweet.
Speaking at the opening day of the WPNG National Conference, Sweet said water was not a money-making business. However, it needed money to ensure that the water is treated for the customers to use.
“As we all know water is part of life. Why should our customers pay for it? We should give it freely.
“But it takes money to purify that water. It takes money to take care of the wastage. So this is what we push onto our customers that they accept and also we deliver,” Sweet said.
WPNG has been successful in maintaining its operations from its current customer base. It is in expanding, however, that is also a challenge.
It is in this regard that the State Owned Enterprise (SOE) looks to external and Government support.
“As far as growing the business and getting further services out there we seek donor financing or soft loans.
“The other thing we rely on is from the DSIP funding so we hoping that some of that funding goes towards water and sanitation services.”