Water Resources Management and Development Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo said the exercise was aimed at addressing acute water shortages particularly in rural areas and would be launched by the end of this year.
He said government would be working with development partners such as World Bank, UNICEF and countries like Germany, France and China that are providing financial support.
“The Ministry is aware of the acute water shortages that people are facing ,especially in rural districts where they rely on boreholes as their main sources of water.
“I’m happy to say that we have received sufficient allocation from the development partners that will see us rolling out a borehole rehabilitation exercise aimed at ensuring that all the 40 000 structures are functional,” he said.
Nkomo could not be drawn into revealing the amount of money that would be involved in the project.
He said rural district councils all over the country would be tasked to play a pivotal role, as they were the owners the infrastructure.
He emphasised that consideration would be given to drought-prone areas, particularly the southern provinces of the country.
“Priority is going to be given to the three provinces Matabeleland North and South and Masvingo where 119 community and 50 institutional boreholes are going to be drilled. The programme is going to be launched simultaneously with the rehabilitation programme. I am elated that the water problems that our communities have been facing will soon be over,” he said.
He added that various expert teams would be contracted to rehabilitate the boreholes in various districts for a three-year period.
The development comes amid calls by people from Matebeleland South and Matebeleland North Provinces for the government to urgently act on the water situation as they were travelling distances of more than five kilometres to the nearest boreholes as most of the structures were dysfunctional. In some cases people drink from the same water sources with domestic animals.
Post published in: News