Padarath promises action on WASA security arrears

Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath has promised to work with pri­vate se­cu­ri­ty com­pa­nies to set­tle out­stand­ing pay­ments owed by the Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Au­thor­i­ty (WASA), ac­knowl­edg­ing that some firms went three to four years with­out be­ing paid.

Speak­ing dur­ing Wednes­day’s Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee of Par­lia­ment, Padarath said 14 com­pa­nies pro­vide se­cu­ri­ty ser­vices at WASA fa­cil­i­ties and that $50.53 mil­lion was paid to them be­tween May 2025 and Oc­to­ber 15, 2026.

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How­ev­er, he ac­knowl­edged that the pay­ments had not cleared the back­log, with some com­pa­nies still owed mon­ey dat­ing back sev­er­al years.