“The money adds on to the $144.4m Chinese loan and is financing rehabilitation of Unit 8 of the 13 water clarifiers at MJ,” Harare Water director, Engineer Christopher Zvobgo told The Zimbabwean.
Unit 8 has the capacity to treat 60 mega-litres (ML) of drinkable water a day. “Clarifiers 1-7 with a capacity to treat 160ML daily are being repaired under Chinese funding. Units 9 to 13 are all functional and currently producing 450ML per day and if completed the whole plant has capacity to produce 670ML daily,” he said.
The projects were delayed by the late arrival of equipment from China as a result of floods in Mozambique. “It was something beyond our control. But now work is ongoing and we expect the whole project to be done by December 2015 earlier than the envisaged 2016. As we speak the other two independent Scraper Accelerator Clarifiers- Alexander 1 and 2 clarifiers with capacity to produce 20ML each a day are being repaired in China under the $144.4m loan,” said Zvobgo.
Council engineers, technicians and workers are working under the Chinese expert on how to install and repair the plant for smooth handover and takeover purposes.
Meanwhile, water minister Saviour Kasukuwere has urged residents to pay their water bills. “I know people are not paying for the water but the service needs to be paid for so, while water is a human right but the services still need to be paid for and I urge residents to pay their water bills,” he said.
“We want to appeal to the industry to be more responsible and stop polluting water sources. We are assisting Chitungwiza Town Council to install a working sewer treatment plant and pleased that Marondera is now getting its water from Wenimbe Dam the pipeline is now working and the cost of cleaning water has decreased drastically,” added Kasukuwere.
Post published in: News