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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) needs $1 million to complete outstanding civil works for a new water treatment plant to end Beitbridge’s perennial water woes, an official has said. Zinwa spokesperson Marjorie Munyonga said in an interview yesterday that the civil works were 90 percent complete.

She said they also needed a further $3 million to pay off service providers.

When complete, the water treatment plant is expected to augment water supplies to the town that has a population of 42,218 people, with an additional 10,000 passing through it each day.

“There’s a challenge of funding and we’re still awaiting the release of funds from government. The project needs $1 million to complete and that there is an outstanding debt of $3  million. So the total required is $4 million,” she said.

“As Zinwa we’re exploring other sources of funding for the project which we can’t disclose at this stage.”

Munyonga added that the outstanding civil works included sand for the filters.

The civil works started in 2011 and were set for completion in two years but have been delayed due to inadequate funding.

So far Government has spent $13 million on the project.

The new treatment plant has a pumping capacity of 2,160 cubic metres of water per hour, while the one currently in use can only pump 6,000 cubic metres of water per day.  It is understood that the town needs at least 15,000 cubic metres of water per day.

Zinwa pumps water from the Limpopo River into its two storage dams, but due to the constant breakdowns, water supply is erratic.

The town has another water project that has remained in the pipeline for years, the 63km Zhovhe-Beitbridge water canal which seeks to promote irrigation farming and address the town’s water which requires $23 million.