The City of Harare has begun awareness campaigns on the introduction of prepaid water meters and yesterday engaged residents of Warren Park.
During the awareness campaign, the City of Harare officials were accompanied by Ward 15 Councilor, Tafadzwa Machirori.
Although residents expressed mixed feelings over the introduction of the prepaid water meters, there was a general satisfaction over the fact that they will now have to pay for water they will have consumed.
The residents said that council’s billing system, which was based on estimates was resulting in high and unrealistic water bills.
A local firm, Helcraw Electrical has been contracted to install prepaid water meters in Harare with the first phase starting in Warren Park, Westlea and Avondale.
Machirori said the prepaid water meters project was a welcome move.
“Harare City Council is rolling out a prepaid water meter program. We encourage residents to cooperate with our technicians. Smart meters ensures that residents only buy water that they want to use and manage it on their own. This will do away with estimates, which were disadvantaging residents,” said Machirori.
The Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations and Residents Trust (ZNOART) is on record that the initiative to install prepaid meters and rehabilitate water infrastructure in Harare was a welcome move that would result in improved service delivery.
“As residents, we are saying that this initiative was long overdue and we thank the Ministry of Local Government for this intervention. I am sure the responsible authorities will live to their promise of rolling out this project across Zimbabwe because residents are tired of paying for services which they are not being given.
I am also sure this intervention will solve a lot of issues which residents were raising over the years. We really appreciate and welcome this move and we want this to be done as soon as possible. We understand that Helcraw will refurbish the water infrastructure to avoid loss of treated water and if this is addressed we hope that water provision in greater Harare will improve . This is in line with our dream of restoring Harare’s sunshine city status,” said Chikomba.
He added, “We haven’t had water for a long time in some suburbs. In short, we can say council has failed to provide water in some suburbs yet council was sending bills which are estimates and we were made to pay for a service which they were failing to deliver and the coming in of the prepaid water meters is welcome and we will be able to pay for water that we will have consumed . I am sure that’s the best for us as residents,” said Chikomba.
Helcraw Chief Executive Officer, Brendon Jere is on record that the prepaid water meter project and rehabilitation of water infrastructure is part of efforts to ensure sustainable water provision for Harare residents.
Local Government Minister, Daniel Garwe says the project represents the commitment of the Second Reoublic to.improved service delivery in urban local authorities.
