BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has recommended changes in the supplementary procurement request for the supply, delivery and installation of prepaid water meters to be replaced with a request for expression of interest for prepaid and smart water meters and management system.
The introduction of prepaid water meters has been resisted by residents, who view it as a violation of basic human rights.
The residents argue that the system will affect households struggling to pay fixed water bills due to high unemployment amid an economic crisis afflicting Zimbabweans.
According to minutes of a full council meeting held on Wednesday this week, the water and sanitation department reported in November last year that in the 2024 budget, the city had included a procurement plan for the supply, delivery and installation of prepaid water meters citywide.
Council seeks to engage suitably qualified firms for preparation of an expression of interest to provide a prepaid and smart water metering and management system.
“The City of Bulawayo supplies water services to its customers through metered connections. To date, the city has 136 156 metered water connections covering both domestic and commercial customers,” the minutes read.
Keep Reading
- Uproar over census figures
- Byo Arts Festival in turmoil…One year later, festival has yet to pay artists…Organisers play cat and mouse with artists
- Bulawayo struggles to clear housing backlog
- Council acts tough on debts
“The city currently read its water meters using smartphones utilising 33 meter readers who are inadequate to cover the entire city on a monthly basis.
“As a result, the city is billing some of its customers based on estimates, which results in meter reading discrepancies.”
The meeting also noted that the readings are widely disputed by customers, leading to payment default, adding that the current system was affecting the city’s revenue collection efforts and efficient service delivery to customers.
“The city resolved to introduce prepaid and smart metering systems as a solution to the operational challenges being experienced,” the minutes further read.
“The overall objective of the project is to assess and propose a prepaid and smart water management system in the City of Bulawayo which aims to achieve accountability to customers, ensure accurate billing and improve revenue collection.”
Council said the prepaid and smart metering solution should be capable of integrating with the current BIQ system which the city used for billing purposes.
“The city is also using several types of water meters in its billing system and intends to establish if these can be upgraded to provide prepaid and smart metering solutions,” the minutes read.
Council said it was using 15-20mm Elster Kent volumetric water meters, V110 NRV KSM (Polymer body), 15-20mm sensus water meters, Altair V4 DN15/20 Volumetric meter and the Kent Helix 4 000 Waltmann type (bulk meters 40mm-150mm.
“The firm will be expected to deliver a detailed assessment on how it will provide technical support and the integration of the management system to other software and systems, as well as assess the legal framework in Zimbabwe . . . surrounding the use of prepaid and smart water meters,” the minutes read.
Councillor Tinevimbo Maposa said there was need to visit other local authorities using the system and make recommendations based on the facts on the ground.
Councillor Nkosilathi Mpofu, according to the minutes, suggested that committee members familiarise themselves with their functionality, to provide them with valuable knowledge when an expression of interest is granted.
The councillors said the majority of residents were against smart water meters, which had stalled implementation.
However, the water engineering department argued that the expression of interest was necessary to provide an understanding of the scope of the project, which involves the management systems required such as computer programmes and the denominations of tokens to be used.
“Expression of interest is more like a feasibility study. At this stage nothing is being bought or installed. It was only gathering of information to note what is best for the City of Bulawayo,” it said.
“Expression of interest and the site visit will enable councillors to have the required information and technical guidance, which will assist in decision-making and in what is required by the City of Bulawayo in order to achieve its goals.”