Kwekwe councils urged to complete devolution projects

Kwekwe(New Ziana) – Kwekwe district development co-ordinator, Fortune Mupungu on Wednesday applauded government for releasing Devolution Funds to three local authorities in the area, and urged the recipients to speed up completion of earmarked projects.

The three local authorities – Kwekwe City Council, Redcliff Municipality and Zibagwe Rural District Council, have received over $26 million from government to undertake critical socio-economic development projects in their areas of jurisdiction.

“I am happy with the way they are using the funds, mainly touching on projects that benefit the margnalized people in the district – water, sewer situation, roads, health and education sector. Basically these are the projects that touch the people’s lives,” he said.

“We had some challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some projects could not continue owing to the restrictions that were there and some are still there. Since the relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions, we have seen some progress.

“There are moving according to schedule, I would like to encourage the local authorities to move with speed so that most of those running projects are completed this year, so that next year we start on a fresh page. We expect the projects to be completed this year so that they can be ready for branding.”

Redcliff Municipality has to date received a total of $8.9 million, which it used on water and sanitization projects, public lightning and provision of primary health care.

Mupungu said Redcliff Municipality is currently renovating the Bell Medical Centre to be used as a Covid-19 isolation centre.

“It is 90 percent complete. We expect it to be completed next month. After Covid-19, it can be used as a hospital for Redcliff.
“They are also connecting the water system, boreholes have been drilled on the site and the sewer system has been completed, painting and tiling is in progress,”he said.

On the other hand, Zibagwe RDC, which has to date received $9.8 million, has so far used devolution funding on water and sanitation, health and education projects.

New Ziana