Waterworks jobs, history that is not changing

In November 2022, Investigative Network Albanian published the article with the title "Waterworks, employment depot, administration increased by 71%". This article described the fact that these societies, which at their core have the provision of a service that is also a basic human right, drinking water, had been transformed into places of employment, where political appointments had influenced the current situation for decades.

This mismanagement has led, among other things, to a situation where in areas that had 24-hour water supply before the 90s, in 2022, this service was almost non-existent. However, the fundamental problem was the fact that 64.8% of the water produced by the water supply companies was not billed, or as it is known in the language of the sector, "Water without Income". This, since a significant part of the water that was produced was lost as a result of the amortization of the network, while a part was stolen from illegal interventions, but also from fraudulent billing. During 2021, 58 water supply companies in the country produced a total of 311.2 million m3 of water, but billed only 35.2% of it.

While the water without income for 2022 was at the level of 63.7%, in 2023 according to the Performance Report of the Water Regulatory Entity, this figure has increased to 64.7%, this percentage is far from what is accepted and considered as performance of good from ERRU, of 30%.

" Indicators of Non-Revenue Water and Water Supply Coverage have a slight downward trend, this is a result of inaccuracies in the 2022 reporting by individual UK companies and the increased responsibility of UK companies for reporting accurate", says the ERRU report, which adds that accurate reporting of data is one of the ongoing requirements of the Water Regulatory Entity, raising strong doubts about the accuracy of the data that is published.

In 2022, a reform started in the water supply sector, seen as a need to increase the latter's performance, where from 58 companies that were in 2021, joined at the regional level, transforming into 14 regional companies, while Tirana, Kamza and Vora still continue under the old scheme.

According to ERRU, for the year 2023, 10,395 million ALL were realized from the activity of UK companies, which compared to the previous year has increased by 104.2 million ALL.

"In the sector, there are 6 companies out of 17 companies operating throughout the country, which cover more than 100% of O&M costs. The level of coverage of O&M costs, compared to the previous year, has increased for the entire sector, reaching the level of 100.5% with the income from the activity without including subsidies", says ERRU in its official report of 2023, adding that in sector there are still 11 UK companies that do not cover operational costs and that are subsidized by the government.

According to official data for the year 2023, labor costs in the water supply sector account for 54% of the total operating costs, where the staff efficiency indicator is 4.56 employees per 1000 connections of the Water Supply and Sewerage at the national level.

"Although improved for 2023, there is plenty of room for its reduction from excessive employees and unjustified positions ," says ERRU.

With the initiation of the reform of the water supply sector in the country, with the aim of turning these companies into self-sustaining entities, the human resources of these companies also underwent changes.

Political employment, still part of the sector

Political employment in the Water and Sewerage companies in the country turned into such a big problem that in 2021 the government decided to intervene.

On October 29, 2021, Prime Minister Rama said that: " We will create new synergies and take the jobs in the water supply out of the hands of politics, and for this we will ask for the help of our partners to be monitors of our human resources because they have invested energy, time the first. We must be the three allied parties for a radical change in this direction, which must start with you, dear mayors. You have to say enough, a new chapter must start .".

Two years after the statement made by the number one of the government in a meeting with the mayors, it seems that the situation has not changed much.

"These add and add and add, while the world has some performance indicators that are 250, among which is the number of employees per 1000 connections. In Germany, we saw that there were about 50,000 subscribers in a water supply system and only 2 people worked", says Pirro Cenko, Hydrotechnical Engineer, with experience not only in Albania in UK companies, but also abroad, who emphasizes that the system it needs automation.

" The reason that we have so many employees is political reasons and nepotism, because in the end they are left to the state as an enterprise that can abuse ", says the hydrotechnical engineer.

The Water Regulatory Body itself acknowledges this fact in its latest report in the "Staff Efficiency" sector, in which it is underlined that staff efficiency means that companies do not have people in their organization, who do not justify the work position .

" This part of the staff, in addition to being inefficient, also discourages the rest of the staff as a negative example of work performance. For the year 2023, the sector has operated with 213 fewer employees, but again the sector is overloaded with unjustified staff who in many cases are employed without the relevant education and qualifications and based on party criteria ", concludes the evaluation of ERRU, adding that there continuously requested to analyze in detail the number of employees and positions in the organizational chart, job descriptions and real workload for each job position, especially in cases where companies apply for a new tariff level. However, the sector continues to be overloaded with unjustified staff.

This load of employees, according to Mr. Cenko, can be reduced through automation, which according to him has a low investment cost, which returns very quickly.

" The central pumping station, where all the pumps are made to turn on and off by themselves depending on the water level in the storage, does not cost more than 12 thousand euros for one device, and this within 6 months takes out the investment, as it is also a drastic saving of electricity ”, he says, adding that automation is the basis.

In 2023, the total number of employees in the UK sector was 7,602 employees, with a decrease from 2022, where there were 7,815 employees in total. On the other hand, INA media has provided data on the number of employees for the year 2024, which shows an increase of 102 employees compared to 2023. For 2024, the data speak of a figure of 7704 employees in this sector, when from 14 regional companies and UK company Tirana, Kamez, Vorë, Tirana has the largest number of employees, followed by Durrës.

And while the water supply sector has undergone numerous reforms for 30 years to provide a solution to the problems that have constantly accompanied it, until now a solution has been found for a small part of them, the major problems continue to remain there, as the question of when we will have water 24 hours./ Ina Media