‘It won’t solve quality, availability problems’
THE proposal by Harare City Council to introduce prepaid water meters will not solve the water quality and availability problems and it is wrong for the municipality to commercialise the resource, the Harare Residents Trust has said.
Council intends to roll out 50 000 prepaid water meters.
The HRT feels that the decision infringes on residents’ constitutional right to water.
“Water is a Constitutional right which has no substitution. It is a need and is life. The contracting of the five suppliers to provide prepaid water meters is commercial in structure and motive,” said HRT in a statement.
“Residents will be required to pay $330 for the installation of prepaid water meters then this would be deducted from amounts paid when buying water units.
“The suppliers have simply been given a market to sell their products at a profit which is shared between the councillors who facilitated the deal in collaboration with the city management from city treasury and Harare Water and Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.”
HRT said there has been an ongoing council project to replace dysfunctional conventional water meters in Sunningdale, Mabvuku, Belvedere, Kuwadzana meant to address the problem of estimated billing on water consumption.
By introducing the prepaid water meters, HRT said, the City of Harare was being dishonest with ratepayers.
“The City of Harare has retained nearly 1 000 meter readers despite the fact that 60 percent of the water meters are stuck and dysfunctional,” said the HRT.
“The introduction of prepaid water meters further renders the water meter readers irrelevant. Is the City of Harare going to retrench them in order to save the ratepayers funds from wasteful expenditures?”
HRT claimed it has evidence exposing the politics behind the manipulation of city billing and introduction of new projects before previous projects are completed.
“It demanded to know the fate of the project of replacing dysfunctional water meters, which had already started.
“If they abandon it exposes their commercialisation of council through dubious contracting of suppliers of goods and services,” said HRT.
The HRT threatened to take council to court over the matter.