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Joseph Madzimure and Nesia Mhaka

Government has allocated $1 million for 15 boreholes to be sunk in Harare’s Glen View, which faces chronic water shortages and has been at the epicentre of previous cholera outbreaks.

This follows a directive by President Mnangagwa to the District Development Fund (DDF) to drill boreholes in urban centres around the country to ease water shortages as well as combat cholera and typhoid outbreaks.

This was revealed by acting permanent secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Wilfred Kachitsa in an interview at a drilling site in Glen View 1 yesterday.

“We are here and we are doing this in response to the DDF Act as instructed by His Excellency. There are other clients that come in and pay for borehole drilling but for those which are for public utilities, we have done four boreholes at Harare Central Hospital, three at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. We have also served Epworth and Glen Norah.

“The reason we are here is to avert the possibility of water-borne diseases. We are here to drill 15 boreholes throughout Glen View constituency which could alleviate the likelihood of water-borne diseases because of the water shortages that have been announced in this particular area.

“There is a budgetary allocation of $1 million that has been availed by Government through Treasury to address the crisis that is looming within the area,” Mr Kachitsa said.

Speaking at the same occasion, DDF director (water supplies and maintenance) Mr Edwin Toriro said they had done more than 100 boreholes in Harare.

“We are a development arm of Government and any area which has been cited by His Excellency President Mnangagwa, we move in to do all the development work, be it roads, water, construction, even tillage activities.

“In this particular case, we are in Glen View and other areas as we are trying to address the cholera concerns. You are aware that in 2008 this area and Budiriro were the epicentres of the cholera outbreak, so obviously Government through DDF intervened to alleviate cholera,” said Mr Toriro.

He said that they had so far covered Glen Nrah, Chitungwiza and Epworth.

“We are going to set up seven boreholes in Glen View 1 and 8 in Glen View 7. So far we have drilled two boreholes out of the targeted 15. We hope by Monday next week; we should complete at least five.

“After completion of the exercise, we are going to hand over the boreholes to the Harare City Council. It is an ongoing process,” he said.

Treasury has allocated $60 million for DDF to drill boreholes countrywide to ease water challenges.