Nearly 200 clinics, schools built in Masvingo with devolution funds

Source: Nearly 200 clinics, schools built in Masvingo with devolution funds | The Herald

Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira

George Maponga in Masvingo

Nearly 200 schools and clinics headline key infrastructural projects that have been built using devolution funds in Masvingo Province under the Second Republic in a development that has set the province on course to rapid socio-economic transformation.

The new dispensation under President Mnangagwa has to date assigned almost $4 billion on devolution projects in the province as part of the drive to steer Zimbabwe towards attaining an upper middle income society by 2030, meaning that the economy does not just have to grow large enough, but that the general population throughout the country must have the services and the sort of incomes that go with that status.

Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira noted that the devolution juggernaut continued to change the socio-economic face of Masvingo province.

About 160 schools and clinics have been built across the province using devolution funds. Devolution is a concept whereby a good slice of the national capital budget is assigned to the local authorities in the belief that communities are best able to work out what sort of additional services they want, and can put these in order to be implemented as the money flows in.

Among some new schools that have been built using devolution funding is the state of the art Chirichoga Primary School under Masvingo Rural District Council and Rujeko Secondary School under Masvingo City Council. 

Rujeko Secondary is billed to end an acute shortage of secondary school places in the city.

At least three new clinics and piped water schemes have been rolled out in every district across the province using devolution funding giving rural communities, access to potable water.

“The Second Republic has made huge strides in infrastructural development with the aim of transforming the lives of people in line with the “leaving no one and no place behind,’’ mantra and to date over 160 schools and clinics have been built across Masvingo using devolution funds which testifies to President Mnangagwa’s firm commitment to engender socio-economic transformation in line with Vision 2030,’’ said Minister Chadzamira.

Besides investment in health and education, the devolution budget had financed rehabilitation and upgrading of roads in urban areas across Masvingo and also rural roads.

Among the roads he singled out were those in Masvingo City, the provincial capital, Chiredzi and Mpandawana towns. “We also have rural roads that are being upgraded such as the Masvingo-Zimuto-Chartsworth road, Gutu-Jurai, Gutu-Buhera and Bhuka-Mushandike roads,’’ he said.

In terms of food security, devolution funds have been expended to develop the Chombwe piped water and irrigation scheme which is now a model project set to be replicated in other parts of the province.

The scheme harnesses water from Muzhwi Dam with a pipeline conveying water to rural households across Madyangove communal lands from communities around Mhandamabwe Business Centre to Chivi Growth Point, to the south.

Chombwe scheme also enables some beneficiaries to develop small-holder irrigation gardens for subsistence purposes, which not only boosts nutrition, but also household incomes via irrigated horticultural gardens.

Minister Chadzamira also paid tribute to President Mnangagwa’s Government for the Rutenga Mapfura-Marula value addition and beneficiation plant which had seen more than US$5 million being paid to Mwenezi villagers this year alone for collecting and supplying of mapfura fruit to the processing plant.

Plans were now afoot, according to Minister Chadzamira, to use the Rutenga Mapfura-Marula plant model to also build processing plants for guavas and mangoes that are ubiquitous in Masvingo, Zaka and Bikita districts.

Masvingo has experienced massive development in infrastructural development over the past few years owing to huge investments by Government through devolution funding.