GOVERNMENT has released ZWL37.4 million to help lessen water and sanitation challenges in Harare.
The release of the funds comes at a time when the Harare Mayor Herbert Gomba took a swipe at government and urged Treasury to mobilise resources and construct dams to end the perennial water shortages.
The money was disbursed after Harare City Council called on government to declare the calamitous water situation in Harare a state of national disaster in order to attract international aid.
In a Press statement issued Thursday, Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube said government had released a fund in Zimdollars and foreign currency to ease the water situation in the city.
“To ameliorate the situation, central government has now intervened by releasing ZWL 37. 4 million from Treasury, including foreign currency towards interventions that will seek to improve water access and treatment in the short term.
“The challenges include the absence of a billing system and hence poor collection rates as well as reduced capacity to implement programmes that enhance service delivery,” he said.
In an exclusive interview with Zim Morning Post today, Harare mayor Herbert Gomba confirmed that not a single dam has been constructed in the capital since 1996.
“Yes, we need to get few millions to mitigate the situation but it is more dams and new sewer treatments that are needed for Harare, Chitungwiza and Norton,” Gomba said.
“The minister must know most urban centers do not have water due to these factors,” he said.
“I have engaged the minister to that effect and it is only through construction of dams that we will have a permanent solution,” he said.
Government has mooted plans to put in place a team of experts who are supposed to implement strategies to ensure water availability in Harare.
