Land security remains one of the biggest challenges facing the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), with the corporation saying the issue continues to affect asset protection, service delivery and its overall risk exposure.
Dr Silver Mugisha, the NWSC managing director, made the revelations while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) to present the corporation’s performance and respond to members’ concerns.
Dr Mugisha said the corporation has taken several measures since 2023 to strengthen land governance and safeguard its properties across the country.
“Since 2023, measures have been implemented to strengthen land governance,” Dr Mugisha said.
He said NWSC established a Board Land Advisory Committee to compile and maintain a comprehensive land inventory, while identifying and addressing threats to the corporation’s land.
According to Dr Mugisha, the corporation has also developed a Land Information Management System (LIMS) to streamline the acquisition of land titles, renewal of leases and payment of ground rent.
He said the efforts have resulted in significant progress in securing the corporation’s land.
As of June 30, 2026, the corporation had secured 297 additional land titles.
Dr Mugisha said NWSC currently owns 1,419 parcels of land, of which 941, representing 66.3%, have been secured.
Of these, 631 properties have registered land titles, while 310 are secured through legally binding instruments such as memoranda of understanding, agreements, permits and letters of consent from recognised institutions and authorities.
He said 478 properties, representing 33.7%of the corporation’s land, are still untitled.
“The corporation is engaging the relevant institutions to ensure that these properties are titled,” he said.
Dr Mugisha also raised concern over outstanding water bills owed by government institutions.
He said the corporation continues to face significant financial risks arising from unpaid bills by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
According to him, the problem is mainly caused by inadequate budgeting for water bills, delays in releasing funds and the retention of money meant for water payments by some government institutions.
However, members of the committee expressed concern over the growing arrears.
The committee chairperson, Muwada Nkunyingi, said the joint verification of domestic arrears as of June 30, 2025, established outstanding bills amounting to Shs 50.2 billion.
However, no funds had been allocated to clear the arrears, creating a funding gap of the same amount.
Committee members further warned that MDA arrears are projected to increase by Shs 77 billion, reaching about Shs 130 billion by June 30, 2027.
They said the growing debt threatens the financial stability of the corporation and could reverse the gains made during the 2025/2026 financial year.
On debt recovery, Dr Mugisha said NWSC is continuing efforts to collect unpaid bills from non-government customers, who owe the corporation about Shs 116 billion.
He said the corporation is using several measures to recover the money, including sending reminders through SMS, email, radio announcements and physical visits.
Other measures include offering payment plans for customers with arrears, issuing disconnection notices to those who fail to respond, disconnecting persistent defaulters and charging a reconnection fee of Shs 11,800, inclusive of VAT.
During the meeting, Makindye West MP Zahara Luyirika urged the corporation to revive its previous manual water application system, arguing that some members of the public continue to face challenges accessing fully digital services.
Members of the committee also questioned the procedure used by the corporation when transferring staff.
In response, Dr Mugisha said employee transfers are conducted on merit and are intended to give staff opportunities for career growth while enabling the corporation to utilise available skills where they are most needed.
