GOVERNMENT has given Harare City Council’s water project national priority to pave way for duty-free importation of equipment required for the refurbishment of infrastructure, a senior council official has said.
REPORT BY MOSES MATENGA
Town clerk Tendai Mahachi told NewsDay yesterday that the development had come as a major boost to the city’s multi-million-dollar water and sanitation reticulation programme.
“Government has granted national project status to the water and sanitation project in terms of Section 144H of the Customs and Excise Regulations. This means no duty will be paid for the equipment to be imported for this project,” Mahachi said.
The project, which is aimed at addressing the city’s perennial water shortages through replacement of obsolete infrastructure, is funded through a $144 million loan sourced from the Export-Import Bank of China. The city has already decommissioned some pumps at Morton Jaffray Waterworks to allow Chinese experts hired for the project to replace obsolete equipment.
Currently, the city is only able to pump 500 megalitres of water a day out of the required 1 400 megalitres.
The water crisis has forced many residents to draw water from contaminated wells and boreholes among other sources, exposing them to disease.
Meanwhile, council has started charging heavy penalties for residents with illegal structures at their homes in a bid to discourage the practice.
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The monthly penalties include $75 property tax, $80 fixed water charges, $45 for sewer and $25 for illegal dumping of refuse.
