HARARE City Council says it has set aside $50 million for the pre-paid water meters pilot project which is expected to commence next month.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
Council spokesperson, Michael Chideme told The Standard last week that the local authority had the capacity to roll out the pilot project, which is expected to target areas like the Avenues, industrial areas and a few selected suburbs.
“An initial 2 000 prepaid water meters will be installed in the Avenues, Central Business District, industrial areas and selected suburbs on a pilot basis ahead of the March 2016 citywide roll-out,” Chideme said.
“The use of prepaid water meters will usher in a sense of responsibility as residents will use water carefully, resulting in excess water being distributed to other areas”.
In a statement last week, acting town clerk Josephine Ncube said councillors and senior managers were ready to have the prepaid meters installed at their homes as part of piloting the programme.
“The city is now on a multi-pronged campaign to sell the programme to Harare residents with a view of getting a stakeholder buy-in. Harare City councillors and management recently held a workshop in Kadoma in readiness of the roll-out,” Ncube said.
“Residents should pay for the consumption of water to enable the city to continuously provide safe, clean and potable water. The service cannot be for free. Over 200 000 properties are connected to Harare’s water network. The number is expected to grow with the inclusion of new properties.”
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The plans by the council to install prepaid water meters have been met with stiff resistance from residents’ associations. Some of the Harare residents who spoke to The Standard said pre-paid meters would not solve the problems of poor water and service delivery. Residents also said they were not consulted prior to the decision to introduce pre-paid water meters.
“We do not even know how the meters will work but we hear that they will be installed next month. The council must first deal with the availability of water before talking about the introduction of the prepaid water meters,” Mavis Ncube of Avenues said.
Another resident, Robson Kabwe, said the introduction of prepaid water meters was equivalent to privatising a basic human right, which is access to water.
