THE AFRICAN Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to bail out the cash strapped Redcliff Town Council with $2,1million to rehabilitate its absolute sewer and water reticulation systems.
The local authority has been reeling from poor revenue collection largely due to the collapse of iron and steel producer Ziscosteel. It has also failed to rehabilitate or maintain its sewer and water systems exposing thousands of the town’s residents to unprecedented sewer bursts.
Council’s finance committee chairperson Clayton Masiyatsva said the $2,1 million from ADB would will help them repair and replace some of the town’s aging water and sewer pipes which were forcing Torwood and Rutendo residents to live with ponds of raw sewer in their yards.
“Some homes have gone without water while in others literally stay with raw sewer in their living rooms,” Masiyatsva said. “You remember we had to conduct a mass deworming exercise in Redcliff chiefly because of this sewerage problem.”
Council, which has been operating on an $11 million yearly budget for the past six years, has been failing to collect more than half of the money it is owed by residents due to high poverty levels caused by the collapse of Ziscosteel, which most Redcliff residents depended on for employment.
Although ADB has yet to avail the money, council has already started work on the Magamba sewer pipeline.
