Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Foreign currency shortages have delayed work on the augmentation of water supplies here as contractors are failing to bring in materials for the project. The water augmentation project will see treatment capacity increasing to 30 mega-litres daily initially from the current 16 mega-litres. A further 10 mega-litres will be added in the second phase. This follows council’s partnership with a private company that will install prepaid water meters to recoup costs of the project.

The $22 million project is expected to supply tapped water to more than 100 000 residents. High-lying areas such as parts of Mzari, Orange Grove, Cherima and Brundish were receiving limited water supplies. New housing projects such as Ruvimbo, Rujeko and Mapako also have erratic water supplies. Chinhoyi chamber secretary Mr Abel Gotora said progress had been stalled by failure to secure foreign currency to procure some of the material required to extend clarifiers and expand the water treatment plant.

“In terms of our agreement with Southern Trading, we should by now have completed the survey and fitted 300 houses with prepaid metres, They should now have been constructing an additional reservoir. But as we are speaking, the orders for materials have not been allocated foreign currency because some of the equipment is being imported from South Africa. The prepaid meters are also awaiting foreign currency allocation.” This, he said, made it difficult to plan and meet set timelines.

To further highlight the challenge, council is awaiting the delivery of the last of three refuse compactors that is being withheld by the supplier due foreign currency challenges. The council has already received the other two compactors. Government is working on a $600 million Nostro Stabilisation facility to ensure foreign obligations are met.

Chinhoyi town clerk Mr Maxwell Kaitano said council was now exploring the use of locally available materials such as asbestos for the project. The world is phasing out the use of asbestos and using new technology in water engineering, but it is not locally available.

“We have told the contractor that we need to move and have suggested the use of locally available material for the 375mm pipes that are needed,” said Mr Kaitano.

“That has been embraced and we should start seeing some movement.” Engineering services director Simon Marara said water supplies were enough to ensure everyone gets about 140 litres of water everyday. He said water shortages were being caused by residents in privileged low-lying areas, who were using water continuously without allowing for pressure to build up. Our system uses gravitational force to distribute water and Chinhoyi being mountainous, means it is difficult to pump water to high-lying areas,” said Mr Marara.

He said council would invoke by-laws prohibiting the use of hose pipes. The municipality recently restored water supplies to Orange Grove and Katanda, which had gone for years without getting tap water. Mr Marara said the budget allocation for water augmentation was not enough to make much progress in terms of supplies. Residents have raised concern over water shortages during the 2018 budget consultation meeting, saying council should take concrete steps to improve the situation. Council has had to introduce water rationing, but there are complaints over uneven distribution, where some areas are having water the whole day.

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