KWEKWE City Council has started rolling out prepaid water meters on a trial phase, a year after opening a tender for the supply of the gadgets.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA/STEPHEN CHADENGA
Mayor Matenda Madzoke confirmed the trial run would see 300 homes fitted with the new gadgets before the local authority conducts a review and maps the way forward.
“We have started rolling out the prepaid meters targeting those who have been struggling with their bills. We will assess our revenue collection from there and move on,” he said.
Madzoke said council management had contracted four companies to supply the meters instead of one.
“We have four different companies, which are working on the project and after the trial run, we will then see which ones work better for us,” he said.
Madzoke said the four companies, which had been shortlisted during the initial tender, had all been invited to roll out their meters in the new deal.
These are Tricon Investment, Synlak (Pvt) Limited, Merchant Links and a fourth firm, whose details were not immediately available.
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Kwekwe had to reissue the tender for the meters following internal allegations of corruption and tender manipulation after town clerk, Emanuel Musara recommended that the $400 000 tender be awarded to Tricon Investments.
The new deal is yet to pass through a full council meeting, with the majority of the councillors saying they were still in the dark.
“We know the deal has gone through, but the details have not been brought through full council and there has been no debate on this issue,” a councillor, who refused to be named, said.
This comes as Gweru residents warm up to prepaid meters.
Gweru mayor, Charles Chikozho said residents had reportedly welcomed plans by council to introduce prepaid water meters.
He said following consultations by councillors in various wards, most residents had shown interest in prepaid water meters.
Chikozho, however, said the introduction of the meters was not going to be done overnight, adding that it was an ongoing consultation process.
“We have held several meetings with residents and they have shown keen interest in prepaid water meters,” he said.
“Council is, however, not going to make an overnight decision to introduce prepaid water meters, as such plans are long-term.”
Gweru recently indicated it was scouting for partners to upgrade its water reticulation system and instal pre-paid water meters as part of measures to boost revenue collection.
