Government To Privatise Water Provision In Urban Areas

The government is planning to privatise public services, like providing clean drinking water, because local councils haven’t been able to do their jobs properly.

During a “Media Meets Cabinet Ministers” interface, in Harare on Monday, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said they are already working on the steps needed to make this privatisation happen. Said Garwe:

Last week Friday, we were given the green light to privatise water services. We are now in the process of inviting private sector players, both local and international, to bring proposals, and expressions of interest. These are going to be unsolicited bids.

We want somebody with the capacity to engineer, to procure, to construct and manage the finance. That’s the model that we are working on. Engineering, procurement, construction, management and finance.

These are unsolicited bids. So, as we speak, we’ve already received about five expressions of interest from local players and three from international players. So, it’s a work in progress.

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By the end of next week, we would have identified the most suitable people that have applied and appointed them, at least signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and then a Memorandum of Agreement.

We want by the end of this month to have dealt with the issue of water in Harare.

Garwe said ageing and poorly maintained council water systems are causing significant losses of treated water due to numerous leaks. He said:

By the time it reaches a resident, it’s just a fraction of what has been purified. We are looking at an investor who comes and covers the whole value chain, from purification to distribution to billing and metering.

We want to move away from the old metre system to digital metre systems, the smart water metering systems. That’s what we are doing.

He said Harare, Bulawayo, and Victoria Falls will be prioritized, but the privatization of potable water services will eventually extend to all urban councils nationwide.

Garwe also revealed that, in addition to water services, the government will privatise other services such as solid and liquid waste management systems to ensure issues like burst pipes are effectively addressed and resolved.

More: Pindula News