KWEKWE – Heavy water leakages that the City of Kwekwe is facing, causing shortages of the precious liquid are likely to continue for a long time because there is no financial capacity to upgrade the water system, deputy director of works, Engineer Vincent Mutambirwa has said.
Mutambirwa was responding to questions raised by Councilor Alfonce Mugwagwa during a recent full council meeting.
Mugwagwa had called upon the Engineering Department to attend to serious and persistent leaks in Ward 13. He complained that the alerts on water leakages were falling on deaf ears. Mutambirwa told city fathers that as much as the problem of water leakages was urgent, there was no funding to deal with it. He said the water system actually needs a major upgrade because the pipes were old and the population served had grown exponentially.
“The elephant in the room is funding, we need a lot of money to revamp our water distribution system. We haven’t done system upgrade to match our growing population. Council is underfunded, our revenue inflows are low. We cannot eliminate leaks without adequate funding,” said Mutambirwa.
Mugwagwa said he had been reporting leaks in his ward for a long time.
“May the works department come to our rescue in ward 13. We are having serious water leakages and I have been reporting this challenge for some time but nothing is happening,” said Mugwagwa.
The mayor, Albert Zinhanga however urged the department of works to come up with a work plan on all areas that needs attention.
“I call upon the Works Department to come up with a plan in all areas with water leakages so that we see how we can address the issue of funding,” said Zinhanga.
Sources: Masvingo Mirror
