KWEKWE City Council has re-advertised its pre-paid water meter tender, which was cancelled under controversial circumstances last year.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Last week, the local authority invited interested companies to bid for the supply and delivery of prepaid smart water meters in a pilot project.
“Supply, delivery and instalment of prepaid water meters and associated meter management systems on a pilot basis,” part of advertisement read.
Town clerk, Emmanuel Musara, during a full council meeting last month, said this time, officials would ensure controversies of last year were not repeated.
“We need to move forward as a council and re-advertise for the supply of prepaid water meters. We are saying what happened last year is now water under the bridge. Mistakes were made and those mistakes must not hold us hostage,” he said.
Councillor Aaron Gwalazimba, however, demanded that there be a full investigation into the aborted tender following allegations of corruption and favouritism, which marred the process.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“I want a technical report to be tabled before council so we can be clear what went wrong and who wanted to benefit from the system unduly, so that we know where we are going,” he said then.
The first tender process was aborted after councillors protested the decision to award the contract for 200 prepaid water meters to Tricon Investments at a cost of $340 000.
Councillors queried why management had picked Tricon Investments when other bidders like Snylak (Pvt) Ltd and Merchant Links were charging $210 852 and $231 707 respectively, which they said were much cheaper.
They also argued that Tricon Investments meters had failed to meet the tender specifications outlined by council.
Management later withdrew the tender, paving way for a fresh bidding process.
