The Sunday Mail
Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), posted an operating profit of $61,8 million in 2019, representing an increase of 89 percent from $32,7 million recorded the prior year, despite revenue falling 35 percent.
The water authority’s financial statements contained in the annual report show that despite significant fall in revenue, on account of reduced volumes, profit surged driven by a 44 percent decrease in expenditure in 2019 to $254 million.
The authority posted an operating profit of $61,8 million for the 2019 financial year. This is an increase of 89 percent in comparison to the 2018 operating profit of $32,7 million,” said ZINWA chief executive engineer Taurai Maurukira.
He said ZINWA’s thrust for the review period focused on ensuring continued improvement in service delivery supported by commercial (cost –recovery) viability to ensure sustainability of operations.
Revenue for 2019 amounted to $317 million compared to the revenue for 2018 which amounted to $487 million, a decrease of 35 percent. The decrease in revenue was due to the severe drought and a stagnant tariff in 2019 versus an increase in the prices, which reduced ZINWA’s capacity to provide consistent water supply service.
The severe drought in 2019 saw a limited availability of both raw and clear water as storage in dams after the 2018/19 season were at 70.5 percent of capacity, which was below the previous dam levels of 83,1 percent prevailing at the end of the previous season.
The macro-economic environment negatively affected operations, as price distortions were experienced for the greater part of the year especially after the introduction of the Zimbabwean local currency.
Availability of fuel and spares on the market was also another challenge due to foreign currency shortages.
“The 2018/19 rainfall season had below normal rainfall limiting the available water resources that could be supplied to consumers. Raw water supplied in 2019 decreased to 1,2 million megalitres from 1,3 million megalitres supplied in 2018.
While the 2017/18 rainfall season was characterised by above normal rainfall and flooding in most areas and the season ending with a storage level of 83,1 percent, the 2018/19 season was below normal with the season ending with a storage level of 70,5 percent,” he said.
Clear Water sales volumes decreased by 12 percent to 28,2 million m3 from 31,9 million m3 as surface water supplies were limited by the severe drought while yields and water levels for boreholes decreased significantly.
Availability and supply of clear water to consumers from the month of May 2019 was constrained, as surface water and groundwater depreciated due to drought coupled with the effect of load shedding, which was more pronounced from June to December 2019.
Pumping hours for some water supply stations were reduced to as low as five hours per day in some cases. Other water supply stations had interdependent pumping stations experiencing load shedding at different times, further compounding the effect of power cuts on the volume of water supplied.
