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Locadia Mavhudzi Midlands Correspondent
Shurugwi Town Council has shelved the second phase of the prepaid water meter roll-out after failing to purchase critical equipment, as suppliers are now demanding payments in foreign currency.
Town secretary Mr Solomon Siziba said they had only managed to install about 365 prepaid meters in the central business district before putting the programme on hold due to limited funding.
He said the pre-paid water meters were now being sold in United States dollars, while council charges rates and services in the local currency.
“We are shelving the project until the economy stabilises,” said Mr Siziba. “Suppliers are demanding payments in US dollars and we have RTGS.
The costs are now way above our budget. The project is no longer sustainable.
“While we intended to install 10 000 household meters this year, for now the project has been crippled due to economic challenges. We realise that it is a noble project that had potential to rake in more revenue for the authority while ensuring sustainable use on the part of the consumers.
“We had installed about 365 prepaid water meters in the CBD and wanted to spread the programme to other residential areas.”
Mr Siziba said the town authority’s revenue inflow has been going down since the beginning of the year and they are now resorting to repossessing stands.
“All council projects have been negatively affected by the currency turbulence currently prevailing in the country,” he said.
“We are now resorting to repossessing stands because some buyers have not been paying anything to council for over three months.
Some land that we sold over a year ago has not been developed so we are busy following up on such cases.”
The mining town experiences perennial water challenges as it relies on one source, Impali Dam, which is no longer able to service the growing community.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter