Karoi Town Council is reportedly planning to take over the responsibility of water distribution and billing from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) in a bid to improve its cash inflows.
Although the situation has changed and local authorities have taken over the provision of water, in Karoi, Zinwa has remained responsible for the town’s water treatment, distribution and billing for the estimated 12 000 households.
Karoi town secretary Maxwell Kaitano told a full council meeting on Monday officials from the Ministry of Local Government and Water Resources Management Development had reached an agreement on the takeover after council hinted it had capacity to put in place an effective billing system.
“The challenge is upon us. As long as we are able to procure and install water meters, the Ministry of Water said we could takeover distribution and billing from Zinwa. If we are able to bill residents effectively then we would go ahead and take over treatment of water,” said Kaitano.
Town chairperson Caswell Pemhiwa concurred: “We definitely have to take that route because as council we are losing a lot of potential revenue which could significantly improve service delivery in this town.”
However, if the deal goes through, council would have to deal with the urgent need to overhaul its ageing water reticulation system, amid reports that 60% of treated water was lost through leakages.
