The beneficiaries of this project are
i) City of Bulawayo (Residents, Schools, business institutions and etc)
ii) Local community
EXPECTED OUTPUTS
EXPECTED IMPACTS
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Bulawayo City council is arguably facing the worst potable water deficits in living memory.
Often Umzingwane, Inyankuni, Upper and Lower Ncema dams are decommissioned between September and November
The city of Bulawayo is located in a water-scarce region of Zimbabwe that is affected by recurrent droughts. Because of the expansion of Bulawayo there was need to implement new sources of water as current ones proved inadequate. The 1991/92 drought prompted ad hoc measures to be adopted of which one was a groundwater abstraction programme from the Matsheumhlope well-field that underlies the city to supplement dwindling supplies from surface reservoirs whose levels fell below critical values. In addition, a preliminary study of the aquifer was undertaken, and one notable finding was the groundwater potential of the aquifer from which an annual yield of 3.5 x 106m3 could be obtained.
Failing to achieve this, BCC has relied largely on water supply from Mzingwane, Lower Ncema, Upper Ncema, Inyankuni, and Insiza Dams that are all located some average 45 km south-east of the city. Hence the need to augment Bulawayo ‘s water supply.
A fraction of the total water supply to the city is obtained from groundwater that is pumped from the Nyamandlovu aquifer located 60 km north-west of the city. In terms of pumping costs, these will certainly be much higher than those incurred from an aquifer that underlies the city, if it can yield a comparable amount and quality of water.
Nyamandlovu Aquifer Rochester has a design output of 16 000m3 per day, but was producing about 3000m3-6000m3 per day owing to the high number of non-operational boreholes (usually 30 out of a maximum 56 boreholes had been in operation) and the frequent breakdowns that go with mechanical and vibrational systems.
There is also another scheme at Epping forest with a design output of 10000m3 per day which was not completed. Combined, these two schemes were expected to produce a combined 26000m3 per day which translates to approximately 800000m3 per month.
In 2010 to 2011, UNICEF embarked on a massive rehabilitation project which targeted 56 boreholes. The remainder of the boreholes constituted those condemned for various reasons such as; equipment stuck in them, boreholes now dry or casing now bent.
EPPING FOREST
The Rehabilitation and Construction of Nyamandlovu Epping Forest Boreholes project was initiated under the PSIP programme and was one of the many projects being funded by the Government until funding was stopped due to financial challenges. Several efforts had been made to include the Epping Forest Project on the yearly PSIP bids so that it’s considered for funding, but no success had been achieved.
In June 2015, the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate held a Water Resources and Infrastructure Investment Summit at the Rainbow Towers, Harare International Conference Centre. The Summit showcased all major water projects in Zimbabwe highlighting the need and requirement on each project and where there is a need for engagement with funders, investors and technical partners. The Summit presented existing as well as pipeline projects, giving potential investors an opportunity to discuss and evaluate these projects and determine their appetite for participation. The Nyamandlovu Epping Forest boreholes project was also showcased at this summit in order to source funding for its completion through a possible public private partnership (PPP).
Epping Forest received interest from 3 potential investors, one of whom was the City of Bulawayo who had previously shown an interest to engage ZINWA on the completion of the project. The other two investors visited the project site but however showed a reluctance to finance the project.
ZINWA could not proceed with the Epping Forest project due to lack of funding. Thus, Bulawayo City Council as an affected entity proposed to fund 100% of the project in 2015. Bulawayo city council had been collecting US$1 per household on a monthly basis to facilitate the Insiza duplication line at an estimated cost of US$26 million and had collected approximately US$2 million against an estimated cost of US$5.2 million, thus resolved to divert Insiza pipeline fund to fund the Epping Forest project as a quick win
Bulawayo City Council provided part of the funds to kickstart the project in October 2016. The project was however suspended in July 2017 owing to a number of contractual challenges.
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
In 2020, ZINWA sought and received funding from Government to complete the project which had been abandoned in July 2017. As at July 2017, all Lot A works had been completed with the exception of Lot B. Lot A was partially funded by the City of Bulawayo, whilst the Government committed all the required financial resources for Lot B.
SCOPE OF WORKS
1. Lot A, (Multiforce Contractors Pvt Ltd) (2016-2021)
2. Lot B, (Conduit Investments) (2020-2021)
SUMMARY OF PROGRESS TO DATE
DRILLING
ELECTRIFICATION OF BOREHOLES
PIPELAYING
PIPELINE PRESSURE TESTING
RESERVOIR TESTING
CLEAR WATER PUMPHOUSE
BOREHOLE EQUIPPING
