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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Harare owed US$120m in water bills

Harare owed US$120m in water bills
Saturday, 19 May 2012 19:10
Municipal Reporter

The Harare City Council is owed over US$120 million in unpaid water bills, a development that has severely hampered its bid to improve water provision.
Water Department director Engineer Christopher Zvobgo last week disclosed that domestic customers have cumulative arrears of US$57 million while Government, private companies and other local authorities account for the remainder.

Eng Zvobgo said council efforts to force customers to settle the bills through a water disconnection blitz have not yielded the desired results.

“Customers always default. All the measures we have employed such as negotiating and, to some extent, disconnecting water supplies have been futile as the amount we are owed keeps rising by the day.

“As a city, we badly need money to repair our infrastructure and improve service delivery. The over US$120 million we are owed would go a long way in addressing the challenges we are facing,” he said.
A schedule obtained from Town House last week shows that Chitungwiza Town Council owes US$10,3 million, Norton Town Council US$1,3 million, Ruwa US$9,785 million and Epworth US$1,428 million.

Government’s debt stands at US$20,9 million as at May 11.
Harare Residents’ Trust co-ordinator Mr Precious Shumba said some residents were not settling bills in protest against council’s billing system which is based on estimated meter readings.

“Residents are not happy with the continued estimated billing whose charges are inconsistent
“Some suburbs such as Borrowdale and Greendale do not receive water at all and residents in those areas find no reason to pay for a service not rendered,” he said.
Mr Shumba called on council to write off bills that accrued between January 2009 and December 2010, arguing that they were derived from a faulty billing system.

Labels: HARARE, WATER

posted by MrK @ 3:45 PM