Kunzvi and Musami Dams have been the talk of council executives but very little is being discussed openly about the progress made to provide Harare with an alternative source of drinking water. But Harare City Council Town Clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi believes that the project will resolve a lot of the water problems being experienced by Harare residents concerning water delivery. Already a study was done and the project may cost anything around US$2 billion now. An investor appears to have been found, according to Dr Mahachi, 3 000 people set to be employed during construction of the Kunzvi dam, 500 permanent employees and downstream industries stand to benefit, inducing money into this economy. He believes that the coming on board of Kunzvi Dam will reduce from the current eight water treatment chemicals to only two chemicals, cutting down on costs of treating water. Asked how the investor intends to operate and recoup investment, the Town Clerk said this is not a loan but a foreign direct investment, and the investor will recover investment costs in 25- 30 years while the dam supplies water to Harare Metropolitan Province. But critics of the whole project say the city top management is fully aware that this project will not take off the ground but want to give the impression that things are now moving. The creation of the Harare City Water Corporation Utility is directly linked to this Kunzvi Dam project and will increase the cost of water to the consumer, while deepening corruption and marginalisation of the citizen in the administration of a public good- water. Let us share what we know concerning this project, because once water is privatised, the power is taken away from all citizens, and the authorities will do what they want with residents right to water.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 08:38:55 +0000
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