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Bulawayo Bureau

The National Borehole Drilling Programme will be launched next week by President Mnangagwa in Mangwe District, Matabeleland South.

The programme should see the drilling of up to 35 000 boreholes across provinces by 2025, all equipped with solar systems to anchor the Presidential Rural Horticulture Transformation Plan.

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority has already drilled and equipped a model borehole set-up with solar-powered pump in Jinjika Village to supply water to the nutritional garden, fish ponds and dip tanks and potable water to the village.

Minister of State for Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution Abednico Ncube confirmed President Mnangagwa’s planned visit during a recent Provincial Development Committee meeting in Gwanda where he urged all stakeholders to play their part to ensure the programme was a success.

“These developmental projects are not for me or for Zanu-PF. They’re for the benefit of all the people. Let’s be united and have a team spirit towards this programme for the good of our province,” said the minister.

Zinwa corporate communications and marketing manager Mrs Marjorie Munyonga said they were also preparing for the programme.

“The 35 000 boreholes will mean that each of the 35 000 villages in Zimbabwe will get a borehole. The boreholes are expected to anchor the Presidential Rural Horticulture Scheme by providing water for horticulture and related projects such as fisheries at village level,” she said.

“The boreholes will also provide drinking water for the communities and ultimately reduce the distances that rural families travel to get water.”

Mrs Munyonga said Zinwa has started taking delivery of borehole drilling rigs, which shall be used in the launch programme.

The borehole drilling programme is in line with the country’s economic blueprint, the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which charts policies, institutional reforms and national priorities needed between 2021 and 2025 to attain an upper middle-income economy under Vision 2030.

As part of promoting the economic development agenda, the Second Republic is rationalising the 14 priority areas in the NDS1 and implementing them in a phased approach to derive maximum benefits.

The borehole drilling programme is expected to spur the empowerment of rural women and the youths as well as support projects that promote food security.