Gweru acquires two refuse trucks

Gweru has paid about $594 000 for two refuse trucks and is awaiting their delivery, which will boost refuse collection, town clerk Ms Elizabeth Gwatipedza has said.

The council has been failing to collect refuse on time and has in the past invited private contractors to collect solid waste in the city's high density suburbs because its fleet had become inadequate and obsolete.

In an interview recently, Ms Gwatipedza said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had provided them with the $594 000 for the two refuse trucks.

"Yes we have paid for two refuse trucks at a cost of about $594 000 and we await their delivery. We got the money from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. The two trucks will help us improve on service delivery," she said.

Meanwhile, the money that residents owe council for water continues to increase due to non-payment of water bills.

Addressing a ''Water Indaba'' recently city of Gweru director of engineering services, Engineer Rabson Manatsa said the water debt now stands at $67 million with residents owing the larger chunk of the bill.

"While we are experiencing technical challenges in the water supply chain, we are collecting a paltry figure monthly for water from the residents and business, our water debt now stands at $67 million.

"Our latest figures shows that town and services owe council a total of $43 million followed by Mkoba suburbs (1 to 20) which owe $17 million, Mtapa, Mambo, Ascot and Montrose $5,2 million and Senga over $1 million, bringing the total owed to $67 million," he said.

The water indaba was advocated by residents association who felt council was giving them a raw deal in terms of water supply. Eng Manatsa also highlighted that the local authority is also experiencing non-revenue water losses through illegal connections and unbilled water use.

"We urge residents to quickly report any illegal water connections especially in high density areas and new suburbs. Let us take a collaborative approach on curbing water loss," he said.

A resident association member Mr Samson Mazorodze urged council to invest in new water meters for the residents as the current system is billing residents based on estimates.

"Our people end up not paying anything towards water because we are receiving exorbitant estimated water bills, your workers do not come and get meter readings and in some cases the water meters are not even working.

''Therefore council needs to improve on the efficiency on the billing system," he said.

Residents also urged council to invest in increasing pumping capacity as residents of low-lying areas like Mkoba 15 and 18 are spending three months without water.