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Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi

Kamangeni Phiri Midlands Bureau Chief
GWERU City Council is working on installing 300,000 pre-paid water meters and build more than 6,000 houses in the Midlands capital, city mayor, Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi, has revealed.In a recent wide-ranging interview, Clr Kombayi said the two projects were a direct benefit of his trip to the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair held in Bulawayo.

He said he was in the process of engaging Bulawayo City Council over their prepaid water meter project while a South African company has expressed willingness to undertake the housing project in Mkoba Village 21:

“We are in the process of engaging a company with a capacity of installing 300,000 prepaid water meters. We want to learn from Bulawayo City Council first how they came up with their pre-paid water meter project. On the housing project, we are also grateful to Bulawayo City Councillors who linked us to a South African company that has expressed its willingness to build 6 484 houses in Mkoba 21. This is a project that I want to see succeed. I have a legacy to protect. Remember my father built a suburb as the city’s first black mayor way back in the 1980s,” said Clr Kombayi.

The mayor said he could not give finer details of the two projects as he has to sell the idea to council first.

Clr Kombayi said it was too early to disclose the name of the South African Company that would build the Mkoba 21 houses at this stage.

“I can only say that we want to pursue the three Ps, Public-Private Partnership to help us undertake the housing project. We are going to award local banks tenders to build complete houses and residents will just move into a complete structure,” he said.

Clr Kombayi said his main focus was to ensure the city of Gweru had adequate water supplies to help it lure investors.

He said he was also working on slashing 50 percent of the rates to all elderly property owners who are above 70 years.

Said the Mayor: “We are going to have an audit of all the elderly people with residential properties within our city. Once that exercise is complete, we will reduce their rates by 50 percent regardless of their area of residency. I am going to push for all these projects before council soon. Once they sail through, I can assure you that I will waste no time in making sure that the projects are implemented soon.”

He said he has managed to bring water to Mkoba Village 19 which has gone for years without the precious liquid.

The mayor said water is what connects local authorities to the people, hence his efforts to restore normal water supplies in Gweru.

“This is why I am worried that our council does not have a city engineer who should approve our water tenders. Our city engineer, Eng Jones Nanthambwe resigned and is yet to be replaced. I am glad to announce that Gwenoro is now alright, we completed working on the pipes at the water works. The challenge we have now is that of leakages and this is affecting us. Once that is complete, our water supply system will be 90 percent efficient. We need to move fast in appointing a city engineer so that we attend to the city water challenges. I am glad I am working well with the three Zanu-PF councillors while some councillors from my party are trying to sabotage my projects,” he said.

Clr Kombayi said the implementation of all the projects would be subject to approval by the parent ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development.