The contribution made in Harare followed another $13,1 million one made by the European country in the past.
This brought the Danish contribution to over $33 million making the country the single biggest contributor to the fund. The fund is managed by the African Development Bank.
Speaking at the contribution signing ceremony today, Erik Brogger Rasmussen, the Danish Ambassador to Zimbabwe said: “Denmark wants to help rehabilitate the infrastructure in Zimbabwe and would continue to do so if the projects are well managed and produce tangible results.”
Rasmussen said people should have the right to water which provides them with a descent life.
The money would boost coffers of the ZIMFUND created to improve the electricity and water and sanitation infrastructure in the country.
Speaking at the occasion, Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe Finance Minister said, the donation would go a long way towards improving lives of the people.
Chinamasa said the contribution could not have come at a more opportune time, since improvement of infrastructure was in line with Zimbabwe’s economic blue-print, Zim Asset.
Water and electricity, Chinamasa said, where a pre-requisite for economic growth as indicated in Zim Asset.
To ensure donations were accounted and managed properly, Chinamasa said: “Government recently formed a cabinet aid coordinating committee headed by myself.”
Among other ministries represented in the committee are those for defence, health, primary and secondary education, agriculture, public service, finance, media and health.
The committee co-chaired by the chief secretaries in the President’s Office and Treasury, would report regularly to cabinet among other requirements.
Mateus Magala, African Development Bank Group Resident Representative commended Denmark for committing itself to the fund.
Magala noted that Zimbabwe would not develop without the rehabilitation of its water and power infrastructure.
“At the full implementation of the project in 2016, load shedding would be reduced and water supplies increased,” said Magala, noting that a late benefit is benefit denied.
He called on current donors and new ones to make contributions towards up lifting of the welfare of Zimbabweans.
The emergency fund was launched in 2010 by countries such as Germany, Denmark, Australia, Switzerland, the Uk among others, with an initial $40 million injection.
Some $145 million have since found their way into the fund and Magala indicated that, a total $165 million would be needed to see through the first phase of the project.
The first phase is expected to be completed in 2016.
At the end of the project, over 2.5 million people in major towns of the country would benefit from safe water and improved power supplies.
Post published in: News
Vejen til helvede er brolagt med gode intentioner! That is Danish for, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!
There is no doubt that the Danish government means well by donating this money to the Zimbabwe government. The money in meant to boost coffers of the ZIMFUND created to improve the electricity and water and sanitation infrastructure in the country. God only knows how many million- man-days Zimbabweans have spent without electricity, million-man-days without running clean water and million-man-days drowning in their own sewage today alone!
What the Danish government has to take into account before doling out the money is why have all the-se basic services been allowed to breakdown to the point where nothing works? The answer is a simple one; 34 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption has destroyed all the country’s basic infrastructure, economy, everything.
What Zimbabwe needs above all else is to end the cancers of mismanagement and corruption which are eating everything; throwing good money at these monsters is not the answer because it only serves to encourage the regime to think it can still turn the economy round regardless the mismanagement and corruption. Nothing, absolutely nothing will ever be achieved until we remove these tumours!
Please, please; Denmark is not helping the people of Zimbabwe by throwing money at the corrupt regime in Harare, that is only paving the nation’s road to hell!