How homeowners are paying a Chinese-owned water waste company $1300 an hour to maintain their sewage – and they’re locked into the contract for 25 years
- City of Onkaparinga council south of Adelaide signed 25-year sewage contract
- Waste firm Trility last year bought by Chinese Beijing Enterprises Water Group
- Onkaparinga councillor Martin Bray estimates residents spent $1,300 an hour
- Maintenance costs based on $42,600 annual bill based on just 32 hours of work
Homeowners are paying a Chinese-owned company $1,300 an hour to maintain their sewage system.
In 2002, the City of Onkaparinga council south of Adelaide signed a 25-year contract with wastewater company Trility.
Last year, the Hong Kong-based Beijing Enterprises Water Group took over this company.
Homeowners are paying a Chinese-owned company $1,300 an hour to maintain their sewage and waste water system (pictured is a stock image of a shower head)
This means South Australian ratepayers are paying a Chinese company for costly maintenance work as part of a system where the council outsources wastewater management.
Onkaparinga councillor Martin Bray estimated that last year, residents in the semi-rural Clarendon area paid $42,600 in maintenance costs.
He cited council documents showing 32 hours of work was performed in one year, equating to $1,331 an hour cost to ratepayers.
‘We’re paying the same rate that someone would pay for an operation per hour in a hospital for someone doing trades maintenance,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
Mr Bray, who represents the Southern Vales ward, said the cost wasn’t a reflection on Trility but instead a lesson about what happens when government services are outsourced.
‘If it’s not good value and it seems to be that it possibly isn’t, then it’s to raise awareness of elected members,’ he said.
Onkaparinga councillor Martin Bray estimated that last year, residents in the semi-rural Clarendon area (pictured) paid $42,600 in maintenance costs
In the Onkaparinga council area, the local government owns but outsources the operations of a community wastewater management system, which is separate to the state government sewage network.
Councillor Martin Bray said outsourcing waste water operations cost residents more
More than 4,500 households are affected in Clarendon, Morphett Vale, McLaren Flat, McLaren Vale, Willunga, Maslin Beach and Sellicks Beach.
Every year, these homeowners pay $792 a year in wastewater charges, compared with $340 in the Barossa Council area, north of Adelaide, which doesn’t outsource wastewater operations.
Mr Bray said high costs to ratepayers of outsourcing should be a warning about the pitfalls of privatisation.
‘If there is current discussion about that, then we need to be very conscious about what it might cost under a privatised system as opposed to a council-run system,’ he said.