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Mashonaland West Bureau
Chinhoyi Municipality has severed ties with a contractor who won the tender to implement the $22 million water augmentation project after failing to commence works within agreed timelines.

Initially, the project, which was forecast to be completed by June this year, would have doubled capacity from the 16 megalitres per day to 30 megalitres, while the second phase was expected to eventually boost capacity by a further 10 mega litres.

It has since emerged that the company, Southern Trading, was initially engaged to supply smart water meters before the deal was broadened to include the water augmentation project.

The company, however, says it has been unable to access foreign currency to source some of the materials that are required for the project.

Addressing a full council meeting last week, Chinhoyi Municipality town clerk Mr Maxwell Kaitano said the contract had been terminated to pave way for a fresh tender process.

“Nothing has moved and we are left with no choice, but to move and re-tender the water augmentation project and supply of water meters,” Mr Kaitano said.

“According to terms of the agreement, the first batch of 300 water metres should have been installed by October 2017 under the pilot phase.

“However, nothing has materialised and we have terminated the contract.”

Chinhoyi mayor councillor Test Michaels said the project fell behind schedule because of the unnecessary delays.

“They failed to supply and implement what we had agreed in time and we wasted a lot of time while waiting for them to start,” he said.

“We expect the first phase of the project to have been complete by now.”

Councillors in the meeting fell short of saying the company misrepresented its capacity to carry out the works, resulting in the delays.

“Supply of ICT was their forte and we think they were not in a position to carry out the second part of the agreement, which included civil works,” one of the councillors remarked.

Under the agreement, the winning bidder is expected to supply water meters, expand the town’s water treatment plants and reticulation system.

The scope also includes extending clarifiers and constructing an additional reservoir.

The $22 million project is expected to supply water to more than 100 000 residents and provide 24-hour running water in high-lying areas such as parts of Mzari, Orange Grove, Cherima and Brundish.

These areas receive limited water supplies.

New housing projects such as Ruvimbo, Rujeko and Mapako are the most affected as they receive erratic water supplies.

The reticulation system uses the gravitational system, which leaves distribution skewed in favour of low-lying areas.