Chitungwiza town council director of works Engineer Alfonse Tinofa said the money was sourced from the African Development Bank (ADB) through the African Water Facility.
“A contractor has already been engaged and has since commenced work at the beginning of the year and it is council’s expectation that work on this pipeline will be completed by June 2012,” said Tinofa.
Tinofa said the new pipeline will improve the flow of water from Harare to Chitungwiza since it has a “modern pressure reducing mechanism”. “The pipe that we are currently using has manual mechanisms to determine the pressure of water that we get from City of Harare. This has been a challenge for us as it does not pump enough water for residents,” he said.
He said Chitungwiza town requires at least 43 megalitres daily to cater for residents but only 30 megalitres are being supplied due to challenges such as power shortages.
Water treatment plant a long-term solution
Tinofa said upgrading the water pipe was a short-term solution adding that the council was in the process of sourcing funds to establish its own water treatment plant.
“It is council intention to establish a water treatment plant at Nyatsime as a long-term solution to ensure constant supplies of water to residents,” he said.Chitungwiza residents have, on several occasions, raised complaints after going for days without running water, a situation that causes the outbreak of diseases.
