The Sunday Mail
Shamiso Yikoniko – Sunday Mail Reporter
Chitungwiza Town Council has embarked on a US$400 million dam construction project that is set to ease water shortages in the dormitory town.
The municipality has already identified Muda Dam in Mahusekwa, approximately 35km south of Chitungwiza, for the project.
The Sunday Mail has established that the dam project will be financed on a Built Operate and Transfer arrangement.
Under the arrangement, the funder builds, owns and sells the water to the consumers for a certain period of time to recover their costs before handing over the dam to the local authority.
The town currently draws its water from Harare, which is also facing a shortage. As of February, Chitungwiza Town Council owed Harare City Council a total of US$2,9 million.
Chitungwiza town clerk Mr George Makunde said the construction of the dam was at an advanced stage.
“The authority is working on the construction of a dam that will service the town. An organisation called Sessani has actually been forthcoming in terms of looking for funds for the dam construction,” he said.
“We are now at a stage where we are about to sign a memorandum of understanding with Sessani. We have tabled it before council and made a resolution that the organisation is going to secure funding for dam construction.
“We are receiving our water from Harare and we are failing to pay both for the bulk water they give us and water getting to our consumers,”
Mr Makunde said the project will enable creation of Special Economic Zones which will change the livelihoods of the people in Chitungwiza for the better. “Firstly we want to ride on the Special Economic Zone by the Government. Our plan is that, as the water does its trip from Mahusekwa to Chitungwiza, we will set up contract farmers along the water lines,” he said.
“We plan to have contract farming in horticulture and food processing as a way to resuscitate our industry.”
Chitungwiza Residents Trust (Chitrest) director Mr Marvelous Kumalo said the construction of the dam was a noble idea. “As Chitrest, we view the construction of the dam as a positive development in improving the residents’ livelihood,” he said.
“Taking into cognisance that by 2018, Chitungwiza is poised to be a full-fledged city, it will be risky for the city to be without a proper water supply plan.”
However, Mr Kumalo said while the municipality was embarking on a noble project, it was disheartening to note the growing cases of misuse of funds by those running the affairs of the town.
“We are worried about the recent Auditor-General’s report which revealed that there are a lot of financial irregularities by the council authorities and if that is left to continue, it will shatter our dreams of having a proper water supply chain,” added Mr Kumalo. The municipality has been fingered as one of the local authorities that have been abusing funds at the expense of quality service delivery.
