Harare City Council is now owed in excess ZWL$90 billion by Government, residents and business a situation that is affecting service delivery.
Harare City Council is now owed in excess ZWL$90 billion by Government, residents and business a situation that is affecting service delivery.
Mayor Cllr Jacob Mafume urged stakeholders to settle their debts so that service delivery does not suffer.
“Council needs to buy equipment in order to provide an effective and efficient service delivery system. We are satellite towns that get services from Harare to also pay their debts in order for the city to be able to continue providing services to various stakeholders,” he said.
Harare provides water Chitungwiza, Ruwa, Epworth and Norton.
“Chitungwiza, Ruwa, Norton and Epworth whom we give water owe us a lot of money,” he said
He said there is need to buy equipment to be able to move refuse to Pomona dump site especially in the wake of the ever expanding city and population.
He added that council has resolved to ask new developers to buy equipment that deals with refuse and supply of water when issuing new permits.
Meanwhile, Cllr Mafume said the city has organised a blitz where they are going to have a massive waste management programme.
“Hararians have a culture of throwing away everything from soil that they sweep to metal, plastic and paper.”
“Thus, we should separate our waste at source hence we need to collect and recycle it but the city is not doing so.
He said even bio-degradable waste is recycled hence the city is going to change its waste management architecture together with the government.
“We are going to collect garbage where it is supposed to be collected, get rid of the illegal dump sites and get into inter-media transfer stations so that waste does not have to travel 50 km away from source to Pomona.
“When it comes to water, as you know we are still using dams that were built in 1954 and one that was built in 1976,” said Cllr Mafume.
He suggested that there is need to build more dams in Harare as it holds a population of three million people.
“Lake Chivero provides water to the city and is also part of our recycling system, so it needs a lot of chemicals to clean the water there,” he said.
The construction of Kunzvi, Mucherana Canal and Musami dams is a welcome development as there is Chitungwiza with a population of one million people but with no water source and relies on Harare.
“Dam building exercise is no longer a long term solution because these take three years or less when using a 24 hour building regime since technology has moved” he said.
In addition, council has engaged Nanotech as a way of changing the water treatment technology so that we can provide cleaner, clearer and odourless water.
“We are doing leakages and linking other suburbs that are not connected to the water system”.
“Thus, there is need for a holistic approach that involves all arms of government and those responsible for building the dams.
