The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) with funding from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) has donated vehicles and equipment to help in preparedness and effective response to disaster.
Speaking at the handover ceremony in Harare on Friday, UNOPS senior programmes manager Claude –Andre Nadon said their target is to build better climate smart infrastructure.
“Drawing from our expertise in disaster recovery from across the world, we embarked on the Post Cyclone Idai Emergency Recovery and Resilience Project for Zimbabwe (PCIREP) with the Government of Zimbabwe and African Development Bank, UNOPS’ objective is not just build back but to build back better climate smart infrastructure to protect vulnerable communities of Manicaland from future weather shocks.
“With the impact of climate change becoming more evident with increased incidences of floods, we need to develop infrastructure that takes the environmental conditions into consideration. Building back better has required us to be rigorous with the design process which is a foundation to strong resilient infrastructure,” said Nadon.
He added that they have since adapted a design and build approach to fast track recovery of infrastructure and bring relief to communities.
“We have since adapted a design and build approach to accelerate the rehabilitation of infrastructure and bring relief to communities of Chimanimani and Chipinge while maintaining the mandatory design review process to ensure that the structures we build will withstand pressures posed by weather aspects.
“Under PCIREP, UNOPS will build bridges and repair road networks in Chimanimani and Chipinge and rehabilitate infrastructure for agricultural productivity, water, sanitation, and electricity distribution and river level gauge stations. In spite of the restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic we remain relentless in our efforts toward disaster risk reduction and recovery.
“Today, therefore is key milestone on the PCIREP as we handover tools and equipment to build capacity for Meteorological Services Department, Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution and Transmission Company and Provincial Civil Protection Committee in disaster preparedness and management to enable effective response to future disasters.” he said.
Part of the donation include six 4×4 single cab trucks, two 4×4 land cruisers, one 4×4 heavy truck, ten 6×4 heavy crane trucks, tents, tarpaulins, basic response equipment and automatic and digital weather stations.
