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Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
RESIDENTS of Hlalani Kuhle in Cowdray Park in Bulawayo, who have gone for years without water and sewer connection, will finally start get connected after the Bulawayo City Council secured funding for the project.
Cowdray Park Hlalani Kuhle has over the years presented the Bulawayo City Council a headache as the suburb had no sewer or water reticulation system which saw residents in the suburb resorting to the illegal construction of Blair toilets to avoid open defecation.
The local authority insisted the Blair toilets were illegal but could not demolish them because there was no sewer reticulation to give residents an alternative. However, speaking at their Zimbabwe International Trade Fair stand last Friday the local authority’s public relations officer, Miss Bongiwe Ngwenya revealed that they had completed the main line pipe servicing in the suburb and were now starting to connect water to the houses.
“As you know all along residents have been paying $15 towards the water and sewer connection project in the suburb — a figure which was reduced from $50 as residents complained it was too high — council then noted that relying on this ring fenced figure, it would take longer to complete the project, exposing residents to a health hazard.
“We then took the option of looking for donor funding which we secured from the African Development Bank and the Water Works Programme, therefore with the completion of the main line pipe servicing we have now moved in to connect the houses, already some houses have been connected as we speak,” said Miss Ngwenya.
She revealed that with the African Development Bank funding, council was also working at the outfall sewer in the suburb with the aim of finally having the suburb fully serviced at the end of the project.
Commenting on the development recently elected Zanu-PF councillor for the ward, Clr Kidwell Mujuru said this was a sign of better things to come for Cowdray Park residents.
“It was fortunate that there was no outbreak of ailments such as cholera because these residents had to rely on makeshift Blair toilets just outside their houses, which were quite close to their community water source. Now with this project, as a councillor for the ward, I will naturally be elated because if the people I represent are happy, I will safely say I am also happy, and would like to promise them that this is a sign of better times ahead,” said Clr Mujuru.
The houses have had no running water since the suburb was established in 2006.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and Bulawayo Home Seekers Consortium Trust (BHSCT), who developed the area, had previously both been refusing to accept responsibility for the situation, resulting in the area not being connected to the city’s water supply system.
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