The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council is set to contract private companies as it continues to face a shortage of bowsers meant to deliver water to high shortage areas in the city, it has been learnt.
The local authority recently revealed that it requires about US$1 920 a day to hire eight additional bowsers to complement the six which are operational and help boost water delivery to water shortage hotspots in the city. Bulawayo is going through one of its worst water crises in recent years, with some suburbs no longer receiving tapped water at all. The local authority, a couple of weeks ago announced that in some high-density suburbs, it will only be able to supply water as and when available as it works towards boosting levels at Magwegwe and Criterion reservoirs.
Speaking during a virtual media consultative meeting last Wednesday, Deputy Director of Engineering Services, Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube revealed that council was working on modalities to introduce private vendors to supply water to residents.
“This is a concept that is already operational in Harare, hence we feel it can also work in Bulawayo. We will put water quality control measures and monitor the operations of the private players, so that we still have control over their activities. What pushed us to consider this route is because already we have a shortage of bowsers in the city, where we have just six of them which make 20 to 30 trips a day instead of 50 to 60, which therefore means we have a deficit of two megalitres of water a day. Therefore, we are saying those that can afford to buy water from these private players let them do so,” said Eng Ncube.
He said the private bowsers will be given their operational spots in the high-density suburbs where they would operate from under the strict supervision of council officials. The local authority is also constructing water kiosks around the city where it is installing 15 000-litre Jojo tanks which would be supplied by water bowsers feeding mainly high lying areas which may go up to the next rainy season without any water supplies.
BCC has noted that when hiring water bowsers to boost its depleted fleet, the asking hiring rate was about US$80 per load of which each bowser is required to make an average of three trips a day. Council officials led by the Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni last Saturday met with President Mnangagwa where the President reaffirmed his commitment to resolve the water crisis in the city.
