$20m Beitbridge water treatment plant complete

THE construction of a $20 million water treatment plant in Beitbridge Town has been completed with the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) already carrying out test runs, an official said.

Government funded the project, which began in 2013 but missed several targets of completion due to acute shortage of resources.

It is understood that the new plant has the capacity to pump 2 160 cubic metres of water per hour and would go a long way in addressing water supply challenges in the border town.

Beitbridge Town has an estimated population of 73 000 that includes about 13 000 transit population and requires close to 15 000 cubic metres of water daily.

Zinwa corporate communications and marketing manager, Mrs Marjorie Munyonga confirmed the development yesterday.

She said the new plant will be fully functional by mid-July.

Said Mrs Munyonga: “The project is complete and the equipment is undergoing a test run until the end of June 2017. The major delay in completion was caused by the unavailability of funding to pay a sub-contractor who installed pumps and required $2 million in the form of offshore funding.

“Government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has since paid the sub-contractor hence the commencement of the test runs”.

Beitbridge has been facing a serious water shortage, which heightened after Zinwa introduced prepaid bulk water meters in the town.

According to the parastatal, these were installed in March to recoup the $12 million debt reportedly owed by Beitbridge Town council.

However, the local authority claims it owes Zinwa less than $4 million and that most of the water is lost through non-revenue water leakages.

Our Beitbridge Bureau is reliably informed that council’s collection rate stands at 22 percent, which is not enough to get at least $170 000 worth of water for a month’s supply.

Mrs Munyonga said yesterday Zinwa and the council had made an agreement on the payment plan, which council will follow.

“Zinwa has also installed pre-paid water meters, which the council has welcomed and is paying for its supply. You will note that we supply bulk treated water to Beitbridge Town Council, a service that ends at the reservoirs.

“Reticulation network is the responsibility of the council, which has the mandate of distributing to their clients’ doorstep,” she said.

The council’s finance director, Mr Anymore Mbedzi said recently that they had made a loss of close to $44 million due to losses in non-revenue water and the non-payment of water bills between 2009 and 2016.