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Tawanda Mangoma in CHIREDZI
Chiredzi Town Council has embarked on a $300 000 upgrade of its water conveyancing system to improve distribution efficiency and plug leakages.

Some suburbs here barely have running water a situation blamed on reduced capacity to meet demand.

The situation has been exacerbated by leakages caused by ageing infrastructure.

The town’s chair Mr Gibson Hwende yesterday said they had managed to buy most of the materials for the upgrade.

He said council will only fork additional funds for the technical expertise for the project.

“We set aside $300 000 towards the upgrading of our main water trunk line and the distribution line to Magwaza and Makondo suburbs,” he said.

“Recently, we received the final consignment of pipes, valves and other material which are important in the water delivery system upgrade.”

Mr Hwende said council has budgeted a further $90 000 for implementing the project.

“Given that we had initially budgeted to complete the project for $300 000, inflation affected us and we had to go back to the drawing board for us to get the desired results.”

Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association chair Mr Jonathan Muusha said residents in most wards had been waiting for the commencement of the project since water availability was important.

“We are delighted that council has made strides towards easing the pressing water challenges that affected residents in Wards 5 and 8,” he said.

“It is our hope that council will make sure the project is well-executed to solve our town’s nagging water challenges.”

Council has been struggling to supply water to all parts of the sugar cane growing town, forcing residents to boycott payment of rates in protest.

The local authority is now battling to recover more than $10 million for rates, a situation that has crippled service delivery.