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Talent Gore
THE Harare City Council has said it is ready for the rainy season and has allayed fears of flooding due to poor drainage.
Flash floods have become a problem in the city, almost every rainy season, due to blockages in the water drains — a combination of poor drainage and aging equipment.
Council spokesperson, Stanley Gama, said they have, in the past few months, been working on the storm water drains.
“We are not 100 percent there but we are striving to make sure we achieve the maximum success we can,” he said.
“The main drawbacks, even after we clear the storm water drains, include illegal dumping, especially of waste materials like diapers, non-refuse collection, vending places where there are no waste bins or skip bins, because of non-designated vending places, vandalism of storm water drainage infrastructure, poor stoke piling of building materials, for example river sand and pit sand.”
Gama said the necessary assessments were carried out and it was resolved to carry out catch pit cleaning and spoil removal.
“We will be deblocking old drains in Mbare and upgrading of storm water drains, which are 300mm to a minimum of 450mm for example in Mbare, Belvedere, Mufakose, Kuwadzana and also the replacement of stolen catch pit covers,” he said. Council bought new equipment including an excavator, backhoe, 2 small tippers to ferry spoils.
”Cameron Flyover outflow point was increased from 120mm to 500mm, under all flyovers, we stationed some teams for general cleaning of drains.”
Gama urged the community to stop illegal dumping on storm water drains and illegal cultivation.
“Community should assist in the security of storm water drains infrastructure, we expect the community to stop illegal dumping in drains and also to stop illegal cultivation,” he said.
“Schedule of refuse collection should be strictly followed, vending preparations (maize roasting) on servitudes should be stopped urgently.”
Bongani Ndlovu
Mathew Masinge