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Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
HOUSES in the Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle area in Cowdray Park face destruction as the Bulawayo City Council intends to use explosives to open up sewer trenches to service the area that has gone for years with no sewer reticulation.
The project is part of the council’s Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (BWSSIP).
The $37 million project, funded by African Development Bank (AfDB), involves the improvement of municipal water supply and sewerage services through rehabilitation.
The Cowdray Park project, which will service 12 119 houses, started in August last year and is expected to be complete by February next year.
In an interview after a tour of the projects on Friday, the city council’s director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube, said the Cowdray Park project could result in some houses being destroyed.
“The challenge we have is that there are a lot of rocks under the ground. This forces the contractor to blast the trenches to reach the required levels before laying the sewer pipes.
“It’s unfortunate that the blasting might result in some houses cracking or being destroyed because the sewer trenches are quite close to the houses. But there’s nothing we can do. People settled in the area before servicing was complete,” said Eng Dube.
He said this was within the contractor’s risk and a contingency sum had been set aside in case of destructions from blasting.
Eng Dube added that the council will look at individual cases and analyse if the damage was from the blasting.
“The contractor’s speed has also been slowed down due to the rocks. We’re working in a built up area so we can’t blast as we wish because there are properties and people nearby.
“The rate of blasting is quite slow and this might extend the targeted period of completion,” he said.
Meanwhile, the city council has more than 23 000 non-functional water meters and is in the process of replacing 18 000 in an effort to improve its meter reading system.
Eng Dube said residents raised concern about their bills not changing even if they don’t use water.
He said the reason why they get the same bills was because they will be estimated.
“The installation of meters is mainly within the water upgrading project and we’re looking at the Magwegwe and Criterion Reservoir zones where we have almost 23 000 meters that are not functional. We’re therefore in the process of installing 18 000 new water meters.
“A meter is our till in terms of billing people so that they pay what is due to council. When a till is no longer functioning it means that we’re not sure whether we’re charging a fair price, undercharging or over charging them,” said Eng Dube. — @pamelashumba1
Online Reporter