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Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Bureau
Coal and coke producing company, ZimCoke will pour in US$5 million towards the revamping of Redcliff Municipality’s water and sewer reticulation system before it resumes production within the defunct Zisco Steel plant.

ZimCoke announced recently, that it will resume production in the next six months in a move that is set to breathe life into Redcliff municipality which was fast becoming a ghost town.

In an interview on Wednesday, Redcliff Mayor, Councilor Clayton Masiyatsva said ZimCoke has since agreed to give the local authority the US$ 5 million towards the water and sewer reticulation.

He said the municipality’s engineering department was already working on the water and sewer pipelines to make sure that they address the water situation in the town.

“Zim Coke has agreed to give us US$ 5 million which will be enough to even construct our own water treatment plant.

‘‘This will go a long way in alleviating the water challenges that we have been facing as a local authority.

“The coming in of ZimCoke will also help bring back life and activity in the city,” he said.

Clr Masiyatsva said the revamping of the municipality’s water reticulation will help the local authority improve on its revenue collections.

“We have been having problems in revenue collections because of the water challenges that we have been facing.

“At the moment, we get water once or twice a week but if we have our own water and sewer reticulation system we will be in a position to do our own sound budget,” he said.

Redcliff, which has been struggling since the demise of Ziscosteel, is relying on Kwekwe City for its water supplies.

ZimCoke which will be also using a lot of water for its production said it was also going to construct its on-site water treatment plant.

The resumption of production at ZimCoke is also going to have a bearing on Zimchem Refineries which has been finding the going tough due to shortage of raw materials like coke and coal.

Zimchem Refineries is operating at five percent capacity owing to shortages of raw material such as Coke and                                   coal.