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Midlands Bureau
Kwekwe City Council has begun feasibility studies in a bid to set up its own water bottling company, Acting Town Clerk Dr Lucia Mnkandla has said.

She said a recently completed Strategic Level Benchmarking Peer Review meeting revealed that Kwekwe had abundant water supply which is rated among the best in the country, hence the need to have a council-run water bottling company.

Chairperson of the city’s review committee Mr Shangwa Mavesera, who is also Bindura Town Clerk, said Kwekwe City was one of the few local authorities with functional laboratories for both water and sewer.

In his recommendations, Mr Mavesera said the local authority should set up a water bottling company as an income generation project.

Dr Mnkandla said the city’s department of works had already identified a site and were now carrying out a feasibility study.

“The city council’s works department is already working on. We want to set up a water bottling company and the move will help us in generating revenue,” she said.

Dr Mnkandla said there were companies from Harare and Bulawayo who were coming to illegally fetching water from the city for repackaging and bottling.

“We are facing problems with some people who in the habit of breaking our water pipes to access treated water which they will re-package and selling it as bottled water.

“Given the fact that we have some of the best quality of water, there is nothing that can stop us from having our own bottling company. That way we would have saved a lot of money and boosted our coffers,” said Dr Mnkandla.