Minister of State for Provincial Affairs for the Midlands Province Owen Ncube has officially commissioned the Midlands District Development Fund (DDF) rig (borehole drill truck) at Chiwundura district last week as part of efforts to ease water woes in rural communities.
By Delicious Mathuthu
The rig is part of the six that were recently acquired by government under a US$2, 8 million facility to enhance rural areas’ access to clean water.
Speaking on the official commissioning of the rig at the soon to be established London Primary School at Mqabuko area in Chiwundura, Minister Ncube said the rig is a welcome development as the Province had spent years without a drilling rig.
“For the past five years our Province had no rig to drill boreholes and we had to borrow from other regions. Government created the DDF with the mandate to also provide and maintain sustainable rural water supply in communal and resettled areas.
“Government managed to purchase six drilling rigs and Midlands was allocated one and the new rig is an all-weather rig that can drill through all formations with a depth of up to 200 meters,” he said.
Cde Ncube said schools will be given priority to increase access to water. New boreholes will be drilled as well as flushing others that have been non-functional.
“The DDF will be drilling boreholes at selected schools. They will drill 17 boreholes throughout Midlands Province and flush 20 other under the PSIP (Public Service Investment Programme) programme (currently),” Minister Ncube said.
‘Mudha’as Ncube is affectionately known, said he agreed with DDF Provincial Boss Mrs Molly Shonhiwa that the first borehole be drilled at London School.
H said from the 28 legislators in the Province he chose MP Brown Ndlovu’s constituency because of the unity that they have shown in the school construction programme, so that children don’t walk long distances to find water from the school.
The DDF Provincial Coordinator Mrs Shonhiwa said the DDF seeks to fulfill its mandate set by government to ensure safe water availability for every citizen at a reasonable distance, but they are still far from achieving that..
“We have tried to ensure that people get safe water within stipulated distances but we are still way behind from achieving government’s goal that no one should walk more than 500 meters to find safe water,” she said.
DDF Provincial Water Engineer Mrs Sibonakaliso Chenda said 20 percent of the Province’s boreholes are non-functioning and need to be rehabilitated.
“Currently Midlands has approximately 5 300 boreholes of which 80 percent are fully functioning,” she said.
Engineer Chenda said Gokwe North and Mberengwa are the two districts that have high demand for boreholes and will be a priority soon after the current ‘Education First Programme’.
The rig is said can drill up to 2 boreholes a day and very efficient in terms of fuel saving.
The DDF has been under-capitalized and was failing to fulfill its obligation with the new government saying it seeks to reverse that.
The DDF has been working with several Non-Governmental Organisations such as the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) Programmes and several others to compliment government efforts to avail safe and clean water to disadvantaged communities.
Meanwhile Legislator Brown Ndlovu donated 200 bags of cement towards the construction of London Primary School with a block already above window level, with an additional 50 bags from the Minister of State.
