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Brighton Gumbo Chronicle Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) needs about $12 million to repair boreholes at the Nyamandlovu aquifer and boost the city’s water supply.

Speaking during a breakfast business forum in Bulawayo recently, deputy mayor Gift Banda said the Nyamandlovu aquifer was strategic in the supply of water in Bulawayo.

“There’s a challenge with the issue of obtaining water from Matabeleland South and if we’re to get something ranging from $6 to $12 million we can be able to draw enough water from the Nyamandlovu aquifer into Bulawayo,” said Banda.

He said the city has benefited from its twinning arrangements with Durban and Polokwane in neighbouring South Africa for its water project, which has seen an improvement in the supply of clean water in Bulawayo.

“We’ve benefited from our twinning partnership with the city of eThekwini and Polokwane, which is why the city has been and is still receiving clean water,” Banda said.

He said the city council was working on signing another twinning arrangement with Francistown in Botswana to further develop economic and social opportunities.

Banda said the city fathers have been engaging with local companies to address challenges, which city firms are facing and come up with substantial solutions.

“I applaud the companies that have remained in the city at a time when others relocated. Logically investors consider numbers, which is why most of them favour the capital city instead of Bulawayo. We’ve tried to engage city companies to address some of the challenges, which they’re facing and offering some solutions to their plight,” he said. Banda said the city council was offering a number of incentives for companies such as tariff discounts and land lease arrangements in order to facilitate ease of doing business.