Hefty devolution kitty for Marondera Municipality

MARONDERA- After being allocated ZWL$855 million devolution capital from
treasury this year, the Municipality of Marondera has committed the funds towards
the rehabilitation of the Dombotombo sewage ponds and the construction of
Cherutombo 2 Primary School.
The local authority’s public relations officer Kudakwashe Tapfumaneyi told
Chaminuka News that the projects undertaken would help improve infrastructural
performances as well as its education sector.
Of the designated funds, the council had received ZWL$100 million at the time of
writing.
Tapfumaneyi said: “The Municipality of Marondera has a total devolution budget of
ZWL$855 million earmarked for disbursement for the year 2023. Currently, the
municipality has received $100 million (ZWL) of the budgeted amount.
“We have channeled the devolution funds towards the following rehabilitation of
Dombotombo sewage pump station holding ponds. The project is ongoing and once
completed, it will result in enhanced wastewater collection from source to ponds.
“Then we have the construction of Cherutombo 2 Primary School. We have
earmarked to start the construction of the school to enhance access to primary
school education within Cherutombo and the broader Marondera community.”
Since the Government started allocating devolution funds to councils. Tapfumaneyi
said the local authority has undertaken several projects that are broad-based to
improve service delivery in the provincial capital of Mashonaland East.
He said: “We started receiving devolution funds in 2019 and we have undertaken
several development initiatives and they include the rehabilitation of 523,000 litre
elevated water modular tanks at Braithewaitte pump station. This project was
impactful in that it improved water supply, storage and distribution to northern
suburbs.
“The rehabilitation of Longlands water treatment plant rapid sand filters and other
ancillaries was also carried out, leading to improved water supply quality from the
Longlands water treatment plant and resultant reduced risks of waterborne diseases.
Further to that, we procured additional water bowsers to scale up council’s capacity

to respond to hotspots during periods of intermittent water supply. The acquisition of
bowsers has surely improved Council’s ability to respond to water crisis situations.
“Using the funds, we also managed to drill 16 boreholes and install bush pumps in
12 wards. We installed ward-based boreholes to mitigate water access during
periods of intermittent water supply and that was as well boosted with the purchasing
of a total of six 3,000 litre tractor-drawn mobile water bowsers. This initiative was
also intended to curb the risk of waterborne diseases within Marondera.”
Meanwhile, the council ensured that it would capitalize on clean energy and
channelled part of the funds to the supply and installation of 90 solar street light
lamps.
“This project has witnessed an increase in the public lighting index as well as the
reduction of criminal activity. As you may be aware, a lot of criminal activity such as
muggings, and robbery just to mention a few, thrive in the dark. This project is in
sync with the broader objective of the Government in going green in line with Vision
2030, the National Development Strategy-1 (NDS-1) and our aim, as council, to
become a smart city as per global trends.
“We will continue to install more solar-powered street lights to continuously improve
the driving conditions of the motoring public, enhance environmental compliance and
reduce incidents of criminal activity. The use of solar lights will also go a long way in
reducing the electricity bill for Council.
“Solar back-up power units for council facilities were as well supplied and Installed.
The project saw the establishment of backup solar systems at Council offices. This
has resulted in reduced downtime for council operations and significant gains in
service delivery as clients can be served even during periods of peak load
shedding,” Tapfumaneyi said.