Donors pledge $52m for water

Finance Minister Tendai Biti has scored another coup after getting international donors to agree to a $52-million rescue package that will see the government fund infrastructure rehabilitation in Harare and three other towns.

Tendai Biti
Tendai Biti

Finance Ministry sources said Biti, who spent most of the past two weeks attending the annual meetings of the African Development Bank in Tunisia, had secured the money from Friends of Zimbabwe, a loose coalition of the world’s major donor nations and multilateral financial institutions.

“The money is to be used for the rehabilitation of waterinfrastructure and sanitation projects in Harare, Chitungwiza, Redcliff and Ruwa,” a senior ministry official told The Zimbabwean.

The ADB board was expected to meet in coming months toapprove the projects before funds are made available. Nearly half of the amount will come from the United Kingdom and Australia, which have pledged more than $25 million.

The ADB hosted the Friends of Zimbabwe Roundtable on March 23 todiscuss economic and political developments, and the external debt arrears estimated at more than US$600 million.

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