2 more water pumps for city A Harare City worker examines one of the rusty pipes at Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant that will be replaced under the China EximBank US$144 million loan facility

A Harare City worker examines one of the rusty pipes at Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant that will be replaced under the China EximBank US$144 million loan facility

Municipal Reporter
Harare City Council is set to install two more water pumps at Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant starting this Friday under the Zimbabwe Multi Donor Trust Fund (Zimfund), which is expected to ease the city’s water woes.

The city also recently refurbished the waterworks with the $144 million Chinese loan scheme. The pump replacement exercise has been necessitated by the current state of the pumps which are now about 10 years old and are susceptible to incessant breakdowns.

The city’s principal communications officer Mr Michael Chideme said as a result, there would be a complete shut-down of Morton Jaffray Water Works over the weekend.

“Harare City Council hereby notifies its water customers that there will be a complete shut-down of the Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant on July 3, (8pm) to July 4 (8pm).

“The shut-down will allow contractors on site to complete installation of two new pumps and their non-return valves. This will improve pumping output and reliability from the plant,” he said.

He said the shut-down will affect all areas of Greater Harare hence residents were urged to use the available water wisely.

Zimfund last year released $35,2 million for the urgent Water Supply and Sanitation Project Phase 2 which was expected to be completed last year.

Harare received $19.5 million as part of the grant by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for water pipes replacement, acquisition of new water meters and for the de-sludging of sewer ponds.

The city said three-quarters of the fund would be channeled towards pipe replacement.

According to the city, the bulk of Harare’s 5 500km water pipes were laid over 40 years ago and have naturally gone beyond the permitted lifespan.

The pipe replacement programme is expected to drastically reduce non-revenue water and ensure that more water reaches households.

Harare also got a $144 million-loan provided by ChinaExim bank to resuscitate water reticulation at Morton Jaffray Water Works.

Early this year, Harare commissioned three pumps at Morton Jaffray which increased output at the plant by 100 million litres to 500 million litres per day. The plant, with a capacity to produce 614 million litres per day, was only producing 400 million litres before the installation of the pumps.

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