Residents owe council $129m
THE Bulawayo City Council is grappling with a high water bill default rate as a significant number of residents are not paying their water bills, forcing council to turn to other revenue sources to meet the water treatment bill, it has been learnt.
Data from the local authority shows that about 32 percent of residents have not been paying their water bills, leaving the burden on the remaining loyal residents.
This comes as council is engaged in fierce debate with residents’ representatives and pressure groups on the introduction of pre-paid water with the latter resisting the proposal.
BCC senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu told Sunday News that the poor revenue inflows was forcing the local authority to operate with a tight budget, among other austerity measures.
She said the situation was impacting on service delivery.
“Council has managed to navigate its way through this by a tight cash budget management system that involves delayed payments, prioritisation of critical services and partnership with community groups to ensure services do not come to a standstill. This has led to slow pace in delivery of quality services and failure to pay creditors on time,” she said.
BCC is owed about $129 million in unpaid water bills by residents which dates back to July 2013.
Mrs Mpofu said the local authority has employed a cocktail of measures to recover the debt without much joy.
e measures include phone calls to debtors to come in and make payment plans, final demands, final notices to disconnect water, disconnection of supplies and handing over accounts to legal section for collection.
“Responses from residents are received each step of the recovery processes and payment plans are made, however, residents go on to default also on their payment plans making the recovery process a vicious cycle,” said Mrs Mpofu.
She called on residents to prioritise payment of critical services and make payment plans to settle their accounts.
Meanwhile, Masvingo Town Council is also contending with a similar challenge with about 39 percent of residents not paying their water bills.
Masvingo Town Clerk Mr Adolf Gusha said the situation was affecting council operations owing to depressed revenue inflows.
The local authority has been failing to pay its workers and has salary arrears of almost two months.
“Council is battling to clear Zesa and pension arrears and maintenance is greatly affected, but water treatment is given top priority ahead of other expenses. Council has disconnected water to defaulters and also engaged debt collectors,” he said.
Mr Gusha said the local authority was considering installing pre-paid meters as a lasting solution to nonpayment of water bills by residents.
“Installation of pre-paid meters is the ultimate solution to this. Council is exploring how to get funding for pre-paid water meters but long term funding is not readily available on the market,” he said.
Masvingo Town Council is owed $37 million in unpaid water bills by residents, industry and Government departments, with residents accounting for the largest chunk of the debt.
Mr Gusha said measures put in place to recover the debt have yielded relative success, enabling council to embark on notable capital projects.
“We have disconnected water to defaulters and engaged debt collectors. These measures have helped to a great extent and that is why council is able to allocate funds to capital projects,” he said.
“We recently completed construction of an administration block at Francis Aphiri Primary School at a cost of $114 346.00.
“We have bought a refuse removal truck for $72 279 a tipper truck for $63 413 and an ambulance at a cost of $43 500,” said Mr Gusha.
He added that the local authority had also serviced housing stands at a cost of $68 884 as well as rehabilitate the city’s water reticulation system for $108 430.
A number of local authorities in the country are blighted by low revenue inflows which have led to poor service delivery.