BCC to purchase water pumps directly

THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) hopes the purchase of water pumps directly from manufacturers will help ease water woes that have been bedevilling the city.  

This comes as the city last week announced that their persistent water woes will continue for the foreseeable future with residents now enduring a punishing water shedding schedule of 144 hours without the precious liquid every week.

Bulawayo mayor Solomon Mguni said council had ordered the procurement service unit to directly procure water pumps from manufacturers.  

Mguni shared this development last week while responding to questions raised by councillors on the purchasing of water pumps during a full council meeting.

He said of late there has been disputes between contractors and the local authority in terms of procuring pumps and equipment to ease water and sewer bursts.

"Our infrastructure is very old and it needs replacement. We are also in dire need of pumps but we were having challenges in procuring them.  

"Recently, we had disputes with contractors but the issue has since been solved as our procurement service unit has been authorised to directly procure pumps without going through contractors.

"This development will see council attending to the water and sewer bursts in question," he said.

Mguni said the rest of work pertaining infrastructural development and restoration is under the environmental management services (EMS).

"The bulk of infrastructure is being worked on by EMS. They are going to address the bursts and repair infrastructure," he said.

In response to Mguni's comments, councillor Tinashe Ruzive said there was need for the local authority to unveil a solid strategy on how it deals with water and sewer issues in the city.

"Yes, we are talking of electricity challenges also affecting the water situation in the city but where we come from residents want to know the exact strategy that council is using to attend to these bursts. There is a need for a written strategy that speaks to challenges that the city is facing," Ruzive said.

In January this year, the local authority conducted a test run of new water pumps that it had purchased and it was discovered that four out of the six had design and manufacturing defects.

Earlier this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa was in Bulawayo where he commissioned the Epping Forrest Borehole project in Nyamandlovu and the Gwayi-Shangani pipeline ground-breaking ceremony.

The government is hopeful that these two projects will help mitigate the city's perennial water challenges.