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Blessings Chidakwa Municipal Correspondent
Harare City Council has come under spotlight over the US$144 million Chinese loan facility following revelations that it gobbled US$37 million on administrative costs and allocated US$55 million for water treatment at Morton Jaffray water works.

Investigations revealed that council had already spent US$28 million of the US$37 million on administrative fund.

At a fact-finding mission to Morton Jaffray last week, the production manager Engineer Edmore Chawasemerwa struggled to explain how the funds were used.

Eng Chawasemerwa “deliberately” skipped a section covering the administrative costs in the presence of the Parliamentary Joint Thematic Committee on Human Rights, Sustainable Development Goals and Gender and Development. The US$37 million spent by Harare included US$29,1 million for project designs, management and administration as well as US$8 million for vehicles. Council bought top-of-the-range cars for their bosses including the town clerk and engineer who were already entitled to council vehicles.

Further, The Herald established that council has already used almost all the funds earmarked for management and administration despite only half of the funds having been released.

Project designs, management and administration was allocated US$29 160 117 and US$24 981 783,75 has been used thus far, while US$3 029 878, 71 has been used for the acquisition of vehicles, plants and equipment of the US$8 million allocated to the cause.

Harare spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the money had been used for necessities.

“Basically, those are preliminary and general items including such items like contractor’s equipment, site offices, contractor’s accommodation, site telephone, site security.

“Site amenities, third party insurances, construction insurance, permits and licences, project management and administration, local taxes, transport to and from site, training, soil testing, surveys and designs, working drawings, as-built drawings, O and M manuals, factory visits and witnessed equipment tests,” he said.

Mr Chideme could not justify how council had given priority to administrative issues over critical components like purchase of water treatment chemicals.

Out of US$6 841 118, 85 allocated for the supply of the critical water treatment chemicals only US$1 386 550, 13 was used.

Council had budgeted US$16 443 414,04 for the rehabilitation of Clear water pump stations, but no funds have been availed to the cause as yet.  While only US$134 012,15 was released for the rehabilitation of Crowborough Raw Sewage pump station out of a budget of US$2 468 039, 94 and US$133 847,40 used for the rehabilitation of Firle Effluent pump stations out of the budgeted US$9 720 168,87.