THE Lusaka High Court has entered a judgement in default of appearance and defence in favour of Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company Limited (LWSSC) in a matter where the water utility company sued Chrismar Hotel Limited seeing payment of K371,248.46.

The said amount was an outstanding balance accumulated from unsettled water and sewerage bills, which Chrismar Hotel Limited has now been ordered to pay the utility company.

“The defendant (Chrismar Hotel Limited) not having appealed to the writ of summons herein and not having delivered any defence, it is this day adjudged that the plaintiff (LWSSC) recovers against the said defendant the following: the sum of K371, 248.46, being an outstanding balance accumulated from unsettled water and sewerage bills; Interest on the said sum; and costs of and incidental to these proceedings,” read the judgement in default of appearance and defence.

LWSSC sued Chrismar Hotels earlier this year demanding payment of K371, 248.46 being the outstanding bill for sewerage services it provided, interest, replacement of a six-inch inflatable sewer plug, and costs of and incidental to the proceedings.

According to the statement of claim, the hotel is alleged to have illegally reconnected its premises to LWSSC’s network by removing the sewer plug which was used for disconnection.

The utility stated that the hotel was disconnected from the network because it has its own borehole for water supply, therefore has only been getting billed on its sewer account for sewerage services based on metered volumes.

However, it was stated that on or about September 9, 2020, the utility was forced to disconnect Chrismar Hotel after it accumulated a huge bill for sewerage services and the disconnection was done using a six-inch inflatable sewer plug.

LWSSC however stated that despite the hotel being disconnected, its sewerage bill kept increasing which prompted the firm to conduct an investigation on March 11, 2021 which revealed that the hotel illegally reconnected its premises to the sewer network by removing the sewer plug which was used for disconnection.

The water utility stated that it suffered loss because Chrismar Hotel refused or neglected to settle the K371, 248.46 bill despite several reminders.