According to the document, Zimbabwe needs a grand total of US$16 181 014 000 to rejuvenate its crumbling economy, including repairs to old hospitals such as Harare and Parirenyatwa.
It also needs cash to repair potholed roads countrywide, improve water sanitation in virtually all the major towns and cities and spruce up the dilapidated Hwange Thermal Power Plant for more than US$357 800 000, Kariba South Hydro-Power Plant for about US$91 500 000, execute the expansion of Kariba South at a massive grand total of some US$4 599 551 000, and, among other things also try to attract illusive tourists at the Victoria Falls Airport for US$125 million.
Only last week tour operators revealed that there were “no more tourists coming into the country from Japan”. They blamed the recent earthquake for the poor showing. President Mugabe and Minister Biti need to raise US$6 250 551 000 for various energy-related projects. These include for power generation, power distribution and transmission in Zimbabwe.
They also need to cough up US$4 329 022 000 for transport and communication. Here they are expected to use the money to fix dilapidated rail infrastructure, rebuild civil aviation works, repair potholed roads, as well as improve the country’s out-dated communication infrastructure and set up a possible US$82 500 000 “E-Government” infrastructure, according to the document.
The document also points out that Zimbabwe needs US$1 063 105 000 to improve water and sanitation throughout the country especially in the capital city, Harare, some US$806 012 000 for social services, US$262 324 000 for agricultural projects to get the farming community back on track. At its peak, Zimbabwe was the “bread basket” of Southern Africa and President Mugabe grabbed the biggest honour for hunger prevention on behalf of his country – the prestigious US$100 000 Hunger Prize.
The top document also reveals that the cash-strapped GNU needs US$3,4 billion in lines of credit for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), housing about US$450 million, and private sector investment injection of about US$3 billion. The document comes at a time when Minister Biti has told civil servants that the government does not have any cash.
Post published in: News