Staff Reporter

Government has declared it is considering the privatization of water services to address the revenue challenges faced by local authorities, Local Government and Public Works Permanent Secretary has said.

Speaking in an interview, Local Government and Public Works Permanent Secretary, Dr John Basera said Government was working with the local authorities to privatize some of their services to improve water delivery.

“We are working with our local authorities in terms of privatizing some of the service deliverables, in terms of solid waste management. We are enroute to full privatization of refuse collection as well as solid waste management,” he said.

According to Dr Basera, Government is engaging in high-level discussions regarding the potential privatization of water delivery services.

“Government is engaging in high level discussions to try and privatize water deliveries for Harare, other cities, locations and jurisdictions.  We are learning some models from South Africa, Tanzania and other cities where we are benching ourselves. Modern cities are privatizing water deliveries and Government will follow suit,” he said.

Dr Basera further purported Government’s recognition of water as both a human right and a constitutional right and assured that these rights would be upheld in the pursuit of privatizing water services.

“Water is a human right and it’s also recognized as a constitutional right and this will be upheld by Government in our quest to privatize water,” he said.

 “The bigger problem is the loss caused by non-revenue water, in Harare their non-revenue water is about 60% and of course the target is to reduce non-revenue water to 55% as a short term of their target. However we are looking at possibilities of how we can resolve these challenges more sustainably in the long run,” said Dr Basera.

Meanwhile Government is constructing Kunzvi Dam, which will supply water to Harare residents to meet its industrial needs, and support the new city, Mt Hampden. Kunzvi Dam is also expected to contribute between 200 and 250 megaliters of water to Harare’s water system.