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For the umpteenth time, the spotlight has been focused on the rehabilitation of Morton Jaffray, Harare’s major water treatment plant.
What is intriguing is that since the city council secured a $144 million loan from China’s Eximbank for rehabilitation works in 2014, residents have been told different stories concerning progress.
First, it was all bliss and hopeful, with the city fathers telling everyone who cared to listen that within a few years, Harare’s water problems will be over since they had embarked on the rehabilitation works.
Now, it’s totally a different story.
The rehabilitation works are still to be completed, more than two years after schedule.
What is further shocking is the city’s announcement that it is totally abandoning the Chinese loan deal, and is now pursuing other means, including going it alone on the rehabilitation programme.
The rehabilitation of the plant through the $144 million loan was to help repair the capital’s deteriorated water and sewerage structures, and was supposed to be the panacea to Harare’s water woes.
But since 2014, when the rehabilitation started, there has been no joy in sight.
The deal was signed by former Harare town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi and former mayor Mr Muchadeyi Masunda with China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation general manager Mr Yang Yinan in 2010.
Minister of State for Harare Metropolitan Province Oliver Chidawu, who visited the plant on Monday, was told that the plant is 80 percent complete and the works, which have a capacity to supply 750 megalitres a day, were currently pumping 350 to 380 megalitres against a requirement of more than 1 200 megalitres a day.
In the meantime Harare ratepayers, who are by now supposed to have been enjoying the benefits of the rehabilitation are having to contend with more dry days, as council continuously shut down the plant to carry out repairs and other works.
What is particularly worrying is that the city has decided to abandon the Chinese deal and is going it alone.
The city is already failing to provide adequate service to residents because it is already hamstrung, leaving major doubts on its ability to complete the rehabilitation works at Morton Jaffray.
What is clear is that the city is likely to struggle to complete the rehabilitation and it is going to take much longer before the residents start benefiting.
Yet this is an urgent matter that requires immediate action.
We agree with Minister Chidawu’s views that the situation is “dire” and “needs urgent attention”.
Apart from touring Morton Jaffray and Prince Edward water treatment plants, Minister Chidawu also visited Firle and Crowborough sewage treatment plants, which are also covered under the rehabilitation programme.
What is also of concern is that 80 percent of raw sewage is still flowing into Lake Chivero, the major water supplier for Harare and its satellite towns.
It unfathomable that the city is dilly-dallying on a critical project that is expected to solve its water woes, yet residents are having to consume dirty water, with the city lamenting its failure to access enough foreign currency to buy water treatment chemicals.
We agree with Minister Chidawu that an advisory board to assist in the running of the city is long overdue.
We also believe that what is critical at the moment is to get a breakdown of how the initial $72 million that was released for the project was used and why the balance of another $72 million is no longer coming.
While council’s spokesperson Michael Chideme has defended council and sought to blame Government for the non-disbursement of the balance, it is public knowledge that some of the funds were abused.
President Mnangagwa revealed some of the corrupt dealings by city officials with regards to the loan during a special Independence Day interview with ZBC at State House in April.
The President said during his State Visit to China, he pleaded with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, to release the outstanding amount for the project after he had indicated that they were not releasing any more funds after they were told that the initial tranche had been diverted.
There is need to revisit the issue and bring council to account, especially considering the New Dispensation’s disdain for corruption.
The people of Harare deserve to have clean water regularly, and council should not be allowed to have its pie and eat it. Accountability on this matter will not only be beneficial to the project, but to present and future projects, especially those being funded by the Chinese Government.
Online Reporter