Chitungwiza buys pre-paid water meters

Nyemudzai Kakore Herald Reporter
Chitungwiza Town Council has paid US$265 000 for the supply of 3 000 pre-paid water meters from China, a senior municipal official has said. Director of engineering services, Engineer Alfonce Tinofa said the consignment was expected in the country next month.
“We are at the procurement stage and we have deposited US$265 000 for smart meters which will cover 3 000 houses. We are expecting to receive the consignment at the end of January next year. We hope to roll out the project in early February.”

Eng Tinofa said council was targeting areas with constant supply of water for the first phase of the pilot project.

“We have targeted areas with less water cuts such as Manyame Park, Zengeza 3 and 5 and we hope to cover the whole town by year end,” he said.

The municipality decided to buy prepaid meters after residents complained of inaccurate billing. Inspiration was drawn from installation of prepaid electricity meters by power utility, Zesa.

Initially, the council had targeted to roll out the project in December but has since rescheduled the project to February next year.

Council entered into partnership with Zimbabwe Innovative Technology (Zimit) which is implementing the project.

The mechanical water meters currently being used are outdated and most of them no longer function properly creating billing problems.