Several Dili suburbs still do not have access to clean water due to the actions of their residents, according to National Directorate of Water Services general director Gustavo da Costa.
He said although members of parliament often blamed his directorate for the lack of water, the fault lay with rogue residents who destroyed water infrastructure.
“It’s often the behavior of one person and then everyone else in the neighborhood is the victim because there is no clean water,” he said.
He called on residents to care for the water infrastructure and not destroy pipes so all people had access to clean water.
“Sometimes, our teams go to check on infrastructure but the communities use force against us so we cannot do anything,” he said.
The directorate was working with community leaders to improve systems, da Costa said.
He said budget limitations also made it difficult to continue supplying clean water to communities.
The directorate was allocated $983,000 for staff wages and $943,000 for other operational costs in 2014, he said.
A further $1.7 million was allocated from the infrastructure budget to conduct research into Dili’s water supply.
Commission E (infrastructure, transport and communications) member Inacio Moreira said the supply of clean water had long presented a problem for Dili.
He recognized that community members did sometimes destroy water pipes, an action which he condemned.
He called on the government to crack down on those found destroying water pipes.
Santa Cruz xefe suku Manuel Correia said he was powerless to stop people destroying pipes during the night.
He said he frequently asked the xefe aldeia to tell residents not to do such things.
