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Richard Muponde, Gwanda Correspondent
GWANDA residents have heaved a sigh of relief after work at the Gwanda water reservoir located in Spiztkop suburb resumed this week raising hopes that perennial water shortages that had dogged the mining town for years were about to come to an end.

The five million litre reservoir has long been touted as the panacea to the town’s water shortages.

The project stalled in 2010 due to financial constraints but the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe chipped in with $760,000 for its completion.

Gwanda Town Mayor Knowledge Ndlovu yesterday confirmed that work had resumed at the site.

He said it could take four months to complete the project.

“The contractor is already on site cleaning the steelworks so that they can start pouring concrete. So definitely I can say that work has begun in earnest at the reservoir. We’ve appointed the site engineer and paid the money needed. Council has also paid for all the required material and we’re assured that the job will be completed soon. We’ll temporarily divert pipes which will cater for the new constructed houses and when we’re financially stable we’ll connect permanent ones,” Ndlovu said.

“According to our surveys, no suburb will have shortages of water in the town, all the suburbs will have water.”

Gwanda Residents Association’s secretary general Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo said prospects of completion of the water reservoir comes as a relief to Gwanda residents who had endured years of water shortages. The town’s water shortages had been exacerbated by the rift between Zinwa and the local authority over the latter’s reported reluctance to pay bills to the parastatal for the supply of bulk water to the town.

Zinwa has on several occasions cut water supplies to the town.