Gwanda finally completes water project

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BY PATRICIA SIBANDA GWANDA town’s long-awaited five-megalitre water reservoir has finally been completed, five years after the project was supposed to have been finished. The reservoir will service houses in Spitzkop North Extension that have gone for years without accessing tap water. Gwanda mayor Njabulo Siziba told Sunday Southern Eye that the contractor repaired  leaks, […]

BY PATRICIA SIBANDA

GWANDA town’s long-awaited five-megalitre water reservoir has finally been completed, five years after the project was supposed to have been finished.

The reservoir will service houses in Spitzkop North Extension that have gone for years without accessing tap water.

Gwanda mayor Njabulo Siziba told Sunday Southern Eye that the contractor repaired  leaks, which were discovered when the project was about to be commissioned.

“I cannot tell you when exactly, but anytime from now we will be connecting water to the residents because it is now complete,” Siziba said.

“It  is just a matter of time before  we see water running through to  residents’ taps.”

In 2019 Gwanda Town council made spirited efforts to operationalise the five-megalitre reservoir after flighting a tender for accessories for a test run before connecting it to the town’s main supply system.

The reservoir is seen as the panacea for the mining town’s perennial water challenges.

Water problems have dogged the town for years leaving residents, particularly from Spitzkop North Extension, going for years without tap water.

Former mayor Jastone Mazhale had said they flighted a tender for some accessories needed for the test run and it was likely to be done after the tender had been finalised.

Initially the project was supposed to have been completed by 2016, but the council and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority have been involved in a tug-of-war after the water utility in October 2016 installed bulk-prepared water meters in the municipality.