New recruits at water services to replace retired workers, says ministry

The ministry within the Office of the Prime Minister has responded to accusations, that 150 employees, from the fourth electoral district, had been given employment with the Water Services Corporation (WSC) in recent weeks. The fourth district is contested by Konrad Mizzi, the minister responsible for the corporation.

It said that over the past four years, the Water Services Corporation had improved its financial situation and was now registering a profit, rather than losses, adding that the corporation’s debt had also decreased over the past four years. It added that this had taken place while improvements were registered in “water leakages”.  

In a statement, the ministry said that this year, the corporation would be opening three “new water” production plants that are expected to generate roughly 7 million cubic metres of water from waste. This water, it said, would be used for farming, industry, landscaping and ground water recharge, adding that the new production would lead to an “environmental revolution” that would ensure sustainability and offer better quality water for farming.

“Despite the fact that the production of water will increase by a third through the new water, the Corporation will be keeping the same levels of employment. In fact, the recruitments that are taking place are addressing vacancies left by workers who retired in the past years and the wage bill of the new recruits will be cost neutral till 2018 and not as alleged in the media,” read the statement.

Moreover, the ministry clarified that all recruited employees were chosen by the Water Services Corporation according to standard procedures and resided in almost 50 different localities across Malta.

“The recruitment drive was necessary for the Water Services Corporation to guarantee a quality service for Maltese and Gozitan families,” it concluded