Harare City Council has begun the rollout of the pilot prepaid water meter programme. During the weekend of 4-6 September Harare City councillors and management held a workshop in Kadoma in readiness of the rollout.
An initial 2000 prepaid water meters will be installed in the Avenues, Central Business District, industrial areas and selected suburbs on a pilot basis ahead of the March 2016 city wide rollout.
Councillors and senior managers have committed to having the prepaid meters on their properties as part of piloting the programme.
The city is now going on a multi-pronged campaign to sell the programme to Harare residents with a view of getting a stakeholder buy-in.
The use of prepaid water meters will do away with billing and accumulated water bills as residents will only pay for the water they use.
Residents can also pay as and when they access cash meaning that for example people can buy quantities that suit their budgets. The use of prepaid water meters will usher in a sense of responsibility as residents will use water sparingly resulting in the excess water distributed to other areas.
Harare City will now be able to reinvest more resources into the development and maintenance of water infrastructure for the benefit of all residents. This will come about because al water users will be paying for the service.
The City upholds residents’ right to safe, clean and potable water but feels there is need to balance the rights of the public and those of the city in service delivery.
“Residents should pay for the consumption of water to enable the city to continuously provide safe, clean and potable water. The service cannot be for free.
“Residents should be encouraged to pay for water rather than be encouraged to demand safe, clean and potable water without paying,” said Acting Town Clerk Mrs Josephine Ncube.
She said Harare adheres to affordable water pricing tariffs to ensure water accessibility by all.
Over 200 000 properties are connected to Harare’s water network. The number is expected to grow with the inclusion of new properties.
Source: www.facebook.com/cohsunshinecity
