Story by Fairstars Mukungurutse
THE public-private partnership in the upgrading of water infrastructure in Harare has taken effect, with the government having handed over the Morton Jaffray water works to private partners that will soon begin rehabilitation works.
This Wednesday saw the commencement of a joint venture between the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, the City of Harare, Helcraw Electrical and Chinese-based Laison Technology to modernise water supply services within the capital city.
The project, which starts with the upgrading of the Morton Jaffray water treatment plant will be implemented in four phases including installation of a smart water metering system and upgrading of the distribution network.
“When the President declared the water situation a state of emergency in 2024, it needed us to think outside the box. We then decided that we would not follow the normal processes of inviting tenders, we then invited those with the capacity to join hands with the City of Harare to turn around the water misfortunes. After speaking to a number of these companies, we then zeroed in on Laison Technology and Helcraw Electrical.
“We then signed an agreement and allowed them to have a detailed study of the water situation in Harare and come up with a report which was supported by the information from the City of Harare that Lake Chivero water is now contaminated and needs cleaning up and that the Morton Jaffray water treatment plant needs refurbishment and the water conveyance system to various suburbs in Harare has suffered a lot of leakages and a lot of purified water has been lost,” Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Honourable Daniel Garwe said.
The partners expressed commitment to boosting water efficiency and sustainability.
“We pledged to be committed to making sure that we improve the water situation in our city, the Metropolitan. This aligns with the Vision 2030 that His Excellency has to make sure that by 2030, every household in our city should be able to receive potable water. This also in turn helps us to turn our economy into an upper-middle-class economy. Harare is the face of the country so basic necessities such as water should be available to everyone.
“At the moment, there are places that are not even receiving water. A lot of people are buying bottled water. They are using this tap water for cleaning, dishes, and of course, this is not sustainable at all. There are a lot of cholera outbreaks that are happening because of the contamination of water. This shouldn’t be the case, especially for the capital city of Zimbabwe,” Helcraw Electrical’s group Chief Executive Officer Mr Brendon Jere said.
“We are excited and honoured to have the opportunity to work together with our partner, Helcraw Electrical to bring the latest technologies, innovations, and the excellent supply chain from China to Zimbabwe and to cooperate with the City of Harare for sustainable water, and assist the City of Harare to let residents enjoy clean water.
“We have a strong professional and experienced team of experts here. They are specialised in smart prepaid meters, digital billing, water supply, water treatment, and also wastewater treatment. We are looking forward to working closely with the team from the City of Harare to contribute to the sustainable water management and water supply in the city,” Laison Technology’s Deputy Managing Director, Mr Clark Dai said.
Harare Mayor, Councilor Jacob Mafume commended the government’s intervention towards ensuring Harare retains its Sunshine City status.
“The City of Harare cannot work alone when it comes to service delivery, we work through the local government and we need to have a good working relationship with the government. We were not elected to fight the government but to negotiate for assistance. We are happy with the help from the Ministry of Local Government to improve service delivery,” he said.
At least 40 vehicles have been procured while a consignment of 650 000 smart metres is being shipped from China to ensure successful implementation of the project which is expected to cascade to other cities.
