adminWalter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
Masvingo City Council has approached the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) for a $2 million loan to complete a sewer project that will benefit residents in Mucheke and Rujeko suburbs. Work on the four kilometre-long sewer trunk line project stopped a few years ago owing to funding constraints.
Council then engaged NSSA for financial assistance to complete the project. Mayor Councillor Hubert Fidze yesterday said NSSA had agreed in principle to help the city, adding the deal could have been sealed had there not been some leadership changes at the authority.
He said council hoped to complete the sewer project by December last year, after the NSSA board had agreed to avail funding.
“We have Mucheke-Rujeko trunk sewer project, which is at least 70 percent complete. The project commenced in 2012, but stalled after the contractor then, failed to continue,” said Councillor Fidze.
“The completion of the project is long overdue. We have engaged the new management at NSSA so that the parastatal can release the funds. We are optimistic that we will get the money to enable us to complete the project.’’
Councillor Fidze said the new sewer project would relieve pressure on the existing sewer infrastructure, which was being overwhelmed.
The Masvingo Mayor said they approached NSSA after getting the nod from Government to secure a loan for the sewer project that is payable in five years.
Councillor Fidze expressed concern over the way council awarded the tender for the sewer trunk line project to a firm that eventually failed to complete the job.
He said council was supposed to exercise due diligence in future before rushing to award contracts for major projects that have a bearing on the day-to-day running of the city.
Council awarded a tender for the sewer project to a firm that had bid to complete work for close to $3 million, but the firm made a U-turn and demanded a further $2,5 million from council, but still failed to complete the work leading to the cancellation of the contract.
Masvingo’s current sewer system was last upgraded in the late 1980s when the city’s population was around 20 000 and now the numbers have increased almost six fold.
Online Reporter