IN the wake of claims of water sales theft, the Ministry of Water and Housing is to completely overhaul its Rapid Response Unit (RRU) and get rid of the state-run Carib Engineering Corporation (CEC) to which it had outsourced the management of the unit four years ago.

But the permanent secretary in the ministry, Genefa Hibbert, insisted Friday that the decision to restructure the RRU was not related to investigations now underway into claims of water sales theft, but was part of recommendations in an audit carried out by KPMG Peat Marwick.

The RRU was introduced with much fanfare by former water minister, Karl Blythe, in 1999 to truck water to communities and schools. Its major customers are the National Water Commission (NWC) and parish councils who contract the unit in areas which have low or no water supply. The unit, however, operates with “sizable inefficiencies”, and the ministry commissioned the KPMG Peat Marwick audit two months ago to improve efficiencies.

Under the new structure, Hibbert said, the Water Ministry would take over all of RRU’s personnel, financial and administrative functions previously done by CEC and create a new management post to oversee the unit which employs 200 drivers and pump operators, with a management and administration staff of 11.

“In the new structure, what is essentially different is the absence of the CEC’s role, to be taken over by the ministry,” said Hibbert. “A substantial saving will therefore be realised by consolidating these support services in the ministry.”

Hibbert explained that the CEC, a wholly owned government company that implements major water supply projects for the Government, was contracted to manage the RRU’s corporate affairs back in 1999 as the unit did not have enough staff to manage its operational and corporate functions. But the ministry was now in a position to handle the RRU’s functions.

“With the merger of the water and housing portfolios in the year 2000, the ministry now has the requisite support services to undertake the function hitherto provided by CEC,” said Hibbert.

Hibbert also insisted that 10 parish managers and regional supervisors said to have been fired last week, were actually “reassigned responsibilities in different geographic regions under the programme”, and not sacked as claimed in media reports.

But the fraud squad is investigating the alleged embezzlement by a central division co-ordinator after it was found that $1.5 million was missing in water sales.

Other key recommendations of the KPMG Peat Marwick audit include:

* a complete overhaul of the management fleet, including a more structured relationship with the manufacturers of the units;

* negotiation to be initiated with marketing companies with respect to bulk purchasing of fuel;

* curtailment of overtime through the institution of more flexible work arrangements;

* rationalisation of the social water component of the programme;

* more aggressive marketing of the programme; and

* implementation of a number of specific control mechanisms to mitigate against fraud.