KK Bus Depot goes 5 months with dry taps

Less than a year after the opening of Nkhotakota Bus Depot, the facility is running without water.

The depot, which was opened on August 19 last year by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwa and German Ambassador Jurgen Borsch, has dry taps following water disconnection by the Central Region Water Board (CRWB). The disconnection has badly hit restaurants as well as paying toilet and bathroom operators who are depending on water sourced from a nearby borehole.

A security guard said the facility had running water only in the first three weeks of its official opening.

“Restaurant and pay-in toilet operators send bicycle taxi operators to get water at the Grand Mosque’s borehole. It has been over five months without water,” he said.

This reporter confirmed that the bathrooms have no running water after paying K300 to gain access to the bathrooms.

A businessperson who operates a pay-in toilet and bathrooms described the situation as pathetic.

“Things are not okay here. We are using bucket water to flush the toilets. We want the council to fix this problem urgently,” he said.

Acting director of planning and development Derrick Mwenda expressed ignorance on the matter.

“Really? I suppose there must be a communication breakdown between the ones manning the facility and secretariat,” he said.

Last year, bus operators complained that the entrance to the depot is narrow and the council’s director of public works and development Langston Mlozowa promised that the council will fix the gate but nothing has happened. n