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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) expects the US$33 million Bulawayo water and sewerage improvement project it bankrolls to be complete before the end of the year.
The regional bank said since inception of the project in 2015, four pumps have been replaced and 141 kilometres of pipe network covering Magwegwe and Criterion reservoir areas have been rehabilitated. As a result of the project, close to 9 000 homes are expected to gain access to clean water.
“The Bulawayo Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (BWSSIP), a US$33 million project is on course to rehabilitate and upgrade water production treatment facilities, water distribution, sewer drainage networks and waste water treatment disposal facilities in the southwestern part of the city.
“The project is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2020,” said the bank.
AfDB said Bulawayo, like many urban centres in the country, has been affected by years of under-investment in its water and sewerage infrastructure maintenance.
The city also suffers water insecurity due to frequent droughts. Less than 50 percent of the sewage generated in the city is presently collected, and the exposure to contamination is significant. AfDB country manager for Zimbabwe, Mr Damoni Kitabire, said:
“We are counting down months to completion. With the full suite of new services, we seek to reverse the devastating effects that poor sanitation and water supply has brought to this area.
“We look forward to witnessing the positive impacts that these changes will bring and building the resilience of this society.”
The project, which is administered by Government through Bulawayo City Council, is designed to contribute to the health and social well-being of its population.
“Before the project, water was distributed on a ration basis, forcing marginal communities in Cowdray Park, an informal settlement in Bulawayo district to walk for over a kilometre to get water,” the council’s director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube, said.
AfDB said supporting the rehabilitation of water and sanitation in Zimbabwe has been one of the financial institution’s priority areas since a cholera epidemic in 2008/09.
The BWSSIP is an extension of the bank’s efforts to stabilise and improve water supply and sanitation services in Zimbabwe.
“Without adequate financing, the city was suffering from inadequate and dilapidated water and sanitation infrastructure, including inefficient and old pumps and treatment works; non-functional sewer systems and frequent instances of contaminated pipe water,” said AfDB. — @okazunga
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