THE Zibagwe Rural District Council has unveiled a $500 million budget for 2022 prioritising health and sanitation services
Finance committee shairperson Rodgers Nhari said: “Zibagwe Rural District Council hereby proposes a 2022 budget of $489, 217, 848. As Council, we have also budgeted for $609, 4040, 900 to be received from inter-government fiscal transfers (Devolution Funds),” he said.
“Zibagwe RDC has 17 clinics servicing 33 wards. This year council constructed two main clinic blocks under phase one. In the subsequent year, we look forward to completing same under phase two,” Nhari said.
“In order to curb maternal deaths, council has budgeted for the procurement of a fully equipped ambulance at a cost of $30 million. In addition to construction of clinics, council budgeted to construct 15 incinerators at 15 of our clinics at an estimated cost of$12 million. Communities in respective wards will assist with locally available material in the construction of these clinics,” he said.
Zibagwe has also pledged to improve the water and sanitation situation.
“In order to improve on water and sanitation in our district we have set aside $29 million for three solar powered water reticulation project, namely Columbina RSC Bee Mine and Zhombe DSC. The three projects will be financed by the IGTF funds,” he said.
Zibagwe which includes Zhombe, Silobela and some parts of Chirumanzu has been experiencing water challenges.
“Our communities lamented pressure of water sources from both humans and animals. Furthermore, most of the tank dams are silting. We have set aside $4,8 million worth of fuel has been put aside to fuel our backhoe loader and tipper trucks to be used for dam scooping,” he said.
In addition, Zibagwe has also drilled at least 29 boreholes and has budgeted for drilling and equipping of an additional 40 boreholes for the year 2022. The local authority has set aside $28 million for this exercise.
