LUSAKA Water Supply and Sanitation Company (LWSCC) Limited has sued Lusaka Hotels Limited in the Lusaka High Court seeking payment of over K1 million outstanding bill for sewerage services it provided to the hotel.

LWSSC is seeking payment of K1,004,662.70 being the outstanding bill for sewerage services provided to Lusaka Hotels Limited, interest on the said sum, costs and any other reliefs the Court may deem fit to award in the circumstances.

In a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court, LWSSC stated that Lusaka Hotels Limited had been their customer with account number 03001502 receiving sewerage services, which it is billed for.

It further stated that the defendant (Lusaka Hotels Limited) has its own borehole, which is metered and LWSSC only bills it for sewerage based on metered volumes.

LWSSC added that as at the date of issuance of the writ of summons, Lusaka Hotels Limited had an accumulated bill for sewerage services of K1,004,662.70, which it had refused and/or neglected to pay.

“The plaintiff has on several occasions attempted to resolve the matter amicably, but the defendant has neglected to pay the bill, citing lack of business or disputing the plaintiff’s billing on the basis of inaccurate metre readings,” read the claim.

It stated that it had engaged Lusaka Hotels to resolve its dispute on billing and changed the defendant’s metre, but even after doing this, the defendant had neglected to pay the bill.

“Further to changing the defendant’s metre, the plaintiff at the request of the defendant, issued a Bill of Quantities (BOQ) on or about February 12, 2020, for leak detection to see where the defendant might be losing water but to-date, the defendant has not acted upon this,” read the claim further.

LWSSC said it eventually disconnected Lusaka Hotel Limited from its sewer line in August, this year, and attempted to resolve the matter amicably on how best the defendant could settle the bill, but all its efforts have proven futile.

It stated that as a result, it had suffered loss.