The African Development Bank has invited bids to refurbish a water treatment plant in Bulawayo at an estimated cost of $36 million, to help improve water quality in the country’s second largest city. The project will be implemented under the auspices of Zim-Fund, a multi-donor trust fund created in 2010 to support Zimbabwe’s priority projects. The proposed project will mainly focus on rehabilitating and enhancing the water supply system, strengthening institutional capacity, enhancing service delivery and contributing to environmental improvement through rehabilitation of sanitation infrastructure, the bank said. “Zimbabwe has received financing from the African Development Fund towards the cost of Bulawayo Water and Sewerage Services Improvement Project (BWSSIP),” said AfDB. “The City of Bulawayo now invites sealed bids from eligible bidders for the refurbishment of water treatment plant.” Upon completion, the project will directly benefit nearly 500 000 people including those who do not have access to clean water. Significant and long-term impacts of the project include improved access to safe and reliable water supply; water resource conservation resulting from the reduction in system leakages and reduction in contamination of water bodies through improved pumping and treatment of wastewater to required standards. In terms of climate change, the project provides the City of Bulawayo with adaptation tools, which would help it address climate change risk. These measures include conservation of water sources, especially water springs, ground water recharge points and river catchments; reduction of non-revenue water; enhance effluent quality control at waste water treatment facilities to protect receiving water bodies and environment from pollution.-Herald