Chegutu Municipality has been afflicted by water-bone diseases such as Cholera and Typhoid, mainly due to aged water infrastructure. Most of the water pipes were installed more than 50 years ago and were now characterized by frequent pipe bursts, thereby creating conditions for cross contamination of Municipal water with effluent.At the same time, Council's water account has not been performing due to dysfunctional water meters. As such, billing for water consumption has not been yielding any significant revenue to Council for plough-back into water rehabilitation projects. These circumstances prompted Council to appeal for financial assistance from Government to address water availability challenges. Government accordingly heeded Council's plea and availed a loan of $1 million through the 2018 national budget. The loan was made available through the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) and was specifically allocated for purchase and installation of water meters and rehabilitation of the water supply network.
The Municipality has completed the first phase of rehabilitating Town House Building. Under this first phase of the project, the porous roof deck was resealed using bitumen. The leakages were threatening to weaken and destroy the structure. The front offices were also installed with new modern partitions and curtain blinds, while a Reception area with a new reception desk was established. A major face-lift was also done on the Town House rates hall with a new counter with a granite top having been installed, complete with speak holes and payment counters. The front-office door was also replaced with a new door, complete with a door screen to improve security. This development has renewed the internal appearance of the Municipal civic centre particularly at the front office which is now more welcoming to ratepayers and other members of the public and visitors coming to Town House.
Council sat with the vendors' associations and agreed on the basic infrastructure that required to be put at the new vending site, principally the ablution facility to be used by vendors. While the vendors association had agreed with its membership to mobilize resources for construction of the toilet, the initiative could not yield the desired results as the project was abandoned soon after the foundation stage. Council took over the project to complete the toilet building. Council also conducted plumbing works as well as construction of a septic tank. Upon completion of the toilet, vendors were allocated space at the site, relieving the CBD of illegal vending activities.
Notice of commencement of the post-paid water meters’ installation project.