HARARE
–
Local
Government
Minister,
Daniel
Garwe
says
the
government
is
looking
for
investors
to
take
over
the
country’s
dysfunctional
urban
water
supply
system
targeting,
most
importantly,
major
cities
such
as
Victoria
Falls,
Bulawayo
and
Harare.
Garwe
said
while
speaking
at
a
ministers
and
media
session
that
they
have
been
given
the
greenlight
to
privatise
the
provision
of
water
within
a
battered
system
that
has,
for
decades,
struggled
to
provide
constant
supply
of
portable
water
to
rate
payers.
“We
were
given
greenlight
to
privatise,
we
are
now
in
the
process
of
inviting
the
private
sector
players,
both
local
and
international,
to
bring
proposals
of
interest,”
Garwe
said.
“We
want
somebody
with
the
capacity
to
engineer,
procure,
construct,
manage
and
finance.
“So
far,
we
have
received
five,
three
from
international
players
and
two
from
local
players.
“It’s
work
in
progress
and
we
are
hoping
by
the
end
of
next
week,
we
will
have
interviewed
them
and
identified
the
suitable
candidates.”
Zimbabwe’s
water
supply
system
is
still
managed
by
local
authorities
that
have
been
involved
in
the
blame
game
with
rate
payers
following
the
near
collapse
of
once
functional
service
delivery
systems.
Rate
payers
accuse
city
fathers
of
continued
failure
to
deliver
smooth
service
while
the
councils
blame
residents
for
abandoning
their
civic
duties
to
pay
rates
whenever
they
are
required.
The
government.
likewise,
has
also
been
blamed
for
inconsistent
policies
that
have
seen
the
value
of
the
money
collected
in
terms
of
revenue
whittled
down
by
inflation.
Suppliers
of
essential
material
needed
to
keep
the
taps
running
have
demanded
hard
cash
for
their
products
while
councils
collect
a
large
portion
of
their
revenue
in
local
currency.
The
outcome
has
been
a
battered
water
supply
system
that
has
seen
some
suburbs
in
major
cities
go
for
years
without
running
water.
In
his
remarks,
Minister
Garwe
set
his
sights
to
addressing
Harare’s
water
crisis
for
end
of
January.
“We
want
by
the
end
of
this
month,
to
make
sure
that
we
have
dealt
with
issues
of
water
in
Harare,”
he
said
“We
are
not
looking
at
a
segmented
approach,
like
what
used
to
happen
before
but
we
are
looking
at
an
investor
who
comes
and
cover
the
whole
value
chain,
from
purification,
distribution,
billing
and
watering.
“We
want
to
move
away
from
the
old
meter
system
to
a
digital,
smart
water
metering
system.
“By
the
end
of
this
month,
or
early
February,
you
will
see
movements
and
we
are
not
looking
at
Harare
alone
but
all
our
cities.
“The
priority
areas
are
Harare,
Bulawayo
and
Victoria
Falls,
since
it
is
our
capital
city
for
tourism.”
The
Minister
said
there
were
enough
sources
of
water
to
cover
the
population
growth.
“If
we
look
at
Harare,
we
have
two
dams
that
are
going
to
be
feeding
Harare.
“Muchekeranwa
will
feed
water
into
Ngwenimbe
in
Marondera,
which
will
take
water
into
Manyame
River
or
Rufaro
Dam,
which
comes
all
the
way
to
Harare.
“It
will
then
cover
Melfort,
as
a
smart
city,
Goromonzi,
Ruwa,
Mabvuku
area
and
Zimre
Park.
“We
also
have
Kunzvi
Dam,
which
is
under
construction,
and
will
assist
in
the
supply
of
water
into
Harare.
“It’s
a
matter
of
time
before
Harare’s
water
woes
will
be
resolved
but
considering
the
water
infrastructure
in
the
country,
we
will
not
meet
the
demand.
“As
we
appoint
investors,
they
will
also
upgrade
the
system
to
make
sure
we
are
not
going
to
have
water
problems.
“We
have
problems
with
leakages,
this
system
which
is
used
in
Africa,
like
Nigeria,
and
Algeria
detects
the
leakages
in
the
process.
“We
want
to
use
the
model
in
all
the
cities.” Additional
reporting
by
HMetro