Unattended burst sewage in a high density suburb in Harare.
GOVERNMENT has stepped up efforts to rehabilitate water supply and sewerage infrastructure in a number of urban centres after accessing donor funding. Recently, government said the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Zim-Fund), which is administered by the African Development Bank (AfDB), had released funding for the rehabilitation of water supply and sewerage reticulation works in a number of urban centres, including Harare, Chitungwiza, Redcliff and Ruwa.
Infrastructure in most towns and cities has aged, but cash-strapped local authorities have been failing to generate enough funding to bankroll critical repair and rehabilitation works, a situation that has sparked the outbreak of diseases due to lack of clean water. “The Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe has received a grant from the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Zim-Fund) administered by the African Development Bank to finance stage 1 of the urgent water supply and sanitation rehabilitation project Phase 2,” government said in a general procurement notice.
“The Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe has also applied for a grant from the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund administered by the African Development Bank to finance stage 2 of the urgent water supply and sanitation rehabilitation project Phase 2,” the notice said, noting that the objective of the project was to ensure that the concerned populations accessed clean water and sanitation services.
The project will involve four key components, which include the rehabilitation of water supply and sanitation infrastructure, hygiene promotion, institutional capacity building and project management. “Stage 1 of (the rehabilitation) component will include the repair, rehabilitation and or/replacement of critical components to enable increased and improved supply and distribution capacity of safe water and sewerage treatment for Harare. Stage 2 will continue the work in Harare and extend it to Chitungwiza, Ruwa and Redcliff.”
Completion of these projects will help the country control a serious outbreak of diseases that have been affecting people in urban areas, which are caused by constant leakage of sewerage from ageing infrastructure in cities. The country requires about US$14 billion to repair and maintain public infrastructure, which includes railways, roads, telecommunications equipment and other assets. But due to a critical shortage of funding, many of the rehabilitation and repair projects have been stalled countrywide.
Despite serious funding shortages, government had to work on several plans to see how it can contain an extensive decline in the state of roads, dams, telecoms infrastructure and State properties, the catalysts for economic recovery and growth. The scale of the dilapidation of national infrastructure has been so bad that even without the requisite funding to bankroll existing projects, ministers have been forced to announce more projects to placate restive population.
A fortnight ago, the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry said as part of its national tourism policy, which was unveiled by Minister Walter Mzembi in Harare recently, it would seriously work on the development, refurbishment and rehabilitation of key infrastructure to facilitate the growth of the industry. Sewer reticulation systems, telecoms systems, water supply and road rehabilitation projects would be undertaken as part of government’s efforts to rebuild the travel sector, which is seen as one of the pillars to anchor economic recovery.
These additional projects coming on stream post the 2014 National Budget, for instance, and after the unveiling of the US$27 billion blueprint, Zim-Asset means government would have to extend its begging bowl to many more potential funders. Analysts said apart from funding the multibillion dollar projects, government can strengthen its push for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) or offer incentives to organisations willing to participate in the projects.
“The government will prioritise the provision, upgrading and maintenance of transport infrastructure to support tourism development; and the government will create incentives for modernisation and expansion of tourist transport services throughout the country,” the national tourism policy notes.
Government has also been expanding and rehabilitating power generation infrastructure, with the US$355 million expansion of the Kariba power plant due to begin in August, while in Hwange, plans are advanced to rehabilitate generation units at the thermal power plant. The national tourism policy says it will complement these efforts, especially in tourism destinations, to consolidate the travel industry.
“Government will, in collaboration with all stakeholders, endeavour to provide clean water supply and ensure provision of sufficient sewerage systems in all tourist areas; and the government will promote investment to improve current electricity generation, transmission and distribution capacity and promote the use of other forms of energy, particularly renewable sources of energy to support the tourism sector,” it said.
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