THE rollout of prepaid meters in Bulawayo is likely to be suspended following forecasts of a poor 2015/2016 rainfall season that will result in water-shedding and present challenges to the local authority in managing the gadgets, it has emerged.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Minutes of the council environmental, management and engineering committee also reveal that prepaid water meters that residents and civic groups have been resisting, were too costly for the financially-troubled municipality.
Each gadget costs $250, according to the report.
Council engineering services director Simela Dube is quoted in the latest council minutes revealing that council did not have money for the prepaid water meters.
He said it was not advisable to introduce them when the Meteorological Services Department had forecast low rainfall this year.
“In response, the director engineering services confirmed that prepaid meters were not yet available. The engineering services department had installed stand pipes in Cowdray Park, which operated in the form of prepaid meters.
“Council also had financial challenges in procuring prepaid meters, as the cost of one meter was $250.
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“He explained that according to predictions, rains will not be adequate this season. If this was true, council might resort to water-shedding. If water-shedding was introduced, council would experience challenges in using the prepaid meters,” read minutes of the environmental, management and engineering committee report.
Mayor Martin Moyo weighed in saying: “Council’s financial position should be taken into account when considering the extension of the programme to those who had opted for prepaid meters on a voluntary basis.”
Debate on prepaid meters had started after councillors questioned whether the local authority had the capacity to install the gadgets across the city.
Council had begun piloting the prepaid water meter system in Cowdray Park high-density suburb last year, defending the gadgets as necessary to force residents to pay their bills on time.
The local authority also argued that the prepaid water meters would help deal with the problems of estimate meter readings and rationalise billing errors.
Residents and civic society organisations have already condemned installation of the gadgets as insensitive and discriminating against the poor.
They have also petitioned council and staged protests to pressure the local authority not to install the devices across the city. The Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association, for example, said its research had shown that the gadgets would only cause waterborne disease outbreaks in poor communities.
