GWERU City Council will resume the prepaid water meter project with a tender already at adjudication stage, a senior council official has said.
Responding to questions from councillors at an ordinary council meeting on whether the local authority's assistant director of finance, Owen Masimba, said the previous pilot project had failed as a result of connectivity problems.
Masimba said council had not abandoned the prepaid water meter project, adding that its tender was at the adjudication stage for at least 10 000 prepaid water meters.
“We have not abandoned the project as some might want to suggest. It is only that the previous trial run failed due to network connectivity. So there are specifications that need to be done so that the system runs both on and off mobile networks,” he said.
In 2023, the Gweru City Council rolled out at least 100 water meters in the three suburbs of Southdowns, Southview and Ivene in a test-run, but the pilot project had a false start with residents facing challenges in using the payment method.
The city has on several occasions shelved the introduction of prepaid water meters, citing financial constraints and the need for a feasibility study.
Over the years, residents' associations in the Midlands capital have resisted the introduction of prepaid water meters, arguing that the move will compromise people’s right to water, especially after the city previously experienced waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera, which claimed lives.
Council, however, argues that prepaid water meters will improve revenue collection and put a lid on defaulters.
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