Zimpapers Logo

George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Masvingo ratepayers might have been prejudiced of nearly $3 million after a company contracted by council to build a 7-kilometre long sewer trunk line failed to complete the job, despite receiving payment. Masvingo city was forced to terminate the contract it had awarded to Mutual Contracting to build a sewer trunk line linking the Rujeko Pump station and newly-opened suburbs in Runyararo West and Victoria Ranch.

The trunk line was meant to link the sewer system in newly-developed suburbs with the city’s main sewer system.

Mutual Contracting was eventually chased away by council after working on the project for five years, but still failed to complete the job.

This means ratepayers might have been prejudiced of the nearly $3 million that council paid to the firm before it was shown the exit door.

Mutual Contracting allegedly connived with some council officials and won the tender to build the trunk line in 2011, after allegedly submitting a lower bid to complete the project.

The firm won the tender after submitting a bid of $2,5 million, while the most expensive bidder was demanding nearly $6 million to do the same job.

After winning the tender, the firm started making demands of additional funds, but still failed to complete the job, forcing council to kick it out.

Council is now reportedly in quandary over how to proceed with the project, five years after awarding the tender for the overdue sewer trunk-line project.

Masvingo Mayor Hubert Fidze downplayed the potential prejudice on ratepayers, saying Mutual Contracting had done some work before it was kicked out.

He conceded that some of the work would need re-doing, further pushing up the cost of the project.

‘’Nothing is going on now on the project after we kicked out the contractor who was there and we made a decision as council that our engineers would now do the monitoring if work on the project resumes, he said.

‘’Council will not totally lose out because the contractor that we kicked out had done some work, though it is true that parts of the trench they dug have since curved in and collapsed and would need to be worked on again.’’

Mayor Fidze said cost of the sewer trunk line would definitely shoot up because of hard rock encountered along the trunk line route.

The presence of hard rock had not been anticipated when bids for the project were made, he said.

‘’There might have been deliberate under-quoting the project cost by the winning bidder, but as you know the project was initiated during the tenure of the previous council (2008-2013), so what we are simply trying to do is to clear the mess that is already there,’’ said Mayor Fidze.

He would not be drawn into revealing when the project would resume and whether or not council had secured funding to continue with the work.

Sources this week revealed that council was in talks to secure a loan from the National Social Security Authority to continue with the stalled trunk line project.

Residents in newly-built bouses in Runyararo West, Victoria Ranch and Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle are relying on either septic tanks or latrines.