The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
GWANDA town council has started installing pre-paid water meters for its residents amid revelations that so far they have installed 100 with the waiting list ballooning to 2 000 in the last couple of months.
This comes despite the local authority clashing on this issue with the Gwanda Residents Association.
In the latest development the town council have awarded the tender for the installation of the pre-paid water meters to a local company, Synlak (Private) Limited and to date the company has already installed 100 meters in the town.
Confirming these developments Gwanda mayor Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu said they had launched the pilot project where they were emphasizing that the pre-paid water meters will be installed only on a voluntary basis.
“We started the project where we identified 10 properties in each of our 10 wards but we were emphasizing the fact that we were not forcing the residents but people would volunteer. However, after the fitting of these 100 we have had a sudden increase in the number of people wanting us to install the pre-paid water meters at their properties.
“Synlak was the company which we contracted to install these pre-paid meters and they are coming back on the ground in two weeks and we expect that they will work at reducing this huge backlog of just over 2 000 properties. We urge anyone who feel they want these meters installed to approach our offices and register,” said Clr Ndlovu.
In an interview with Sunday News Synlak managing director, Mr Moses Mpofu confirmed that they had already started working in Gwanda and that they were now working towards reducing the waiting list.
He revealed that they were actually surprised as more residents and businesses were approaching the town council expressing interest in have the pre-paid meters installed on their premises.
“Yes we have started working with Gwanda town council after we won the tender to install these smart meters and I can tell you that to date we have installed 100 of these meters and the council tells me that there is a waiting list of 2 000.
“We discovered that in terms of opposition to the system, it was a few elements purporting to be representing the larger population but when we went to the ground and educated people on these pre-paid water meters, more people wanted to come aboard and have them installed in their premises,” said Mr Mpofu.
He said one of the biggest advantages of pre-paid water meters was that it enabled residents to effectively plan and also manage how much they pay in rates and rentals.
“In some towns there was the problem where councils used to estimate bills but however with this system now people can plan on the manner they use water and what they pay at the end of the month, it is very much manageable and convenient.
“What people don’t realise is that in actual fact smart water meters are cheaper because when you pay about $5 you get 25 000 litres which is by all fairness quite a large quantity,” said Mr Mpofu.
On other projects they had done, Mr Mpofu revealed that they had installed the pre-paid water meters in Harare, Kariba and Kwekwe. He revealed that they had also engaged the Bulawayo City Council with the hope of installing the water meters in the city.
Early this year Gwanda town councilapplied for powers to borrow $500 000 from lending institutions. The money was meant to cater for; road rehabilitation, income generating projects, purchasing of a tipper or utility truck, purchasing pre-paid water meters and improving the town’s street lighting.
In September last year the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing gave Gwanda Municipality the green light to go ahead with its proposed pre-paid water meter project to enhance revenue collection and improve service delivery despite protests by residents.
In an interview with Sunday News Gwanda mayor Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu said it was no secret that they were reeling under a serious water shortage due to water-rationing by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) who have been cutting supplies to force the local authority to pay part of its $7 million debt hence the need for them to raise more revenue.
In a statement, Gwanda Residents Association spokesperson, Mr BekezelaMadumaFuzwayo said as residents they would continue fighting the implementation of the prepaid water meter project.
“The Residents Association is particularly disturbed that council is going ahead with this move despite several requests from the association and other stakeholders for engagement on this matter before implementation or non-implementation of the program.
“We would like to remind our authorities that we are also equal citizens of this country with rights and privileges as with all other citizens of Zimbabwe and so very capable and ready to resist any moves that infringe on our constitutional rights by any legal moves within our hands to demand to be respected and appreciated as we are accorded rights and services due to us,” said Mr Fuzwayo.
