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Conrad Mupesa

Mash West Bureau

Makonde District has made great strides in the delivery of water, health and education through the use of devolution funds.

At least seven wards in the district now have solar-powered boreholes and tanks, while a school is under construction in Ward 18.

Speaking to The Herald recently, Makonde district development co-ordinator, Mr Benjamin Zivanai, said the district had received more than $4,8 million this year from Government for devolution projects.

“We intended to provide our wards with potable and safe water by installing solar-powered boreholes in low-lying areas of seven selected wards,” he said.

“This has managed to improve services at most health clinics and areas in the district.”

Mr Zivanai said the district, through the council, had also acquired a motorised grader to improve its road service network system.

The district, which is made up of two rural constituencies — Makonde and Mhangura, has been sharing a grader.

“Another cause of concern was our poor road network that was hampering the delivery of Presidential inputs and food aid to low-lying areas of the district as the local council only had one grader,” said Mr Zivanai. “As such, we acquired a grader using the $4 million that we received as devolution funds.”

Apart from the boreholes and grader, the district has also constructed a school in ward 18 where children were travelling at least 10km to access education.

Council acting chief executive, Mr Tarwirei Tayipa, said they were going to improve the state of more than 20 health institutions in the rural parts of the district and increase the clinics to shorten distance being travelled by people to access health facilities.

“There are areas where people still travel long distances, we intend to use devolution funds to improve health services, including construction of more clinics and refurbishment of already existing ones,” he said.