Government Gives Water Utilities K5m Each to Improve Water Supply

The government has disbursed 55 million Kwacha to all eleven water utilities nationwide to improve the country’s water supply.

Water Development Minister Collins Nzovu explained that each utility has received five million Kwacha to implement drought and cholera elimination projects. Some utilities have channelled the money towards boosting water production, drilling commercial boreholes, and procuring meter readers to stop leakages.

The announcements came as the Water Development Minister made a Ministerial Statement in Parliament on the Drought Response; Mr Nzovu also disclosed that the government had awarded ten contracts for sinking 160 commercial boreholes countrywide at a cost of 75 million kwacha.

Mr Nzovu noted the 31 million Kwacha from Constituency Development Funds (CDF) that has already been disbursed to water utilities.

Key beneficiaries of these funds include Southern Water and Sanitation Company, which received K3.5 million for projects in Pemba, Mazabuka, and Namwala; Western Water and Sanitation Company, which was allocated K2.9 million for the installation of hybrid water pumps and network extensions in areas like Sioma and Luampa; and Lusaka Water and Sanitation Company, which received K8.8 million to construct water kiosks and extend networks in Kanyama and Kabalana.

During his statement to parliament, Nzovu urged Members of Parliament, particularly from the Central, Muchinga, and Northern provinces, to support the use of Constituency Development Funds (CDF) for these vital projects

"I wish to take this opportunity to appeal to all members of Parliament…to support the use of CDF for water supply and sanitation projects in their constituencies as the budget for the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation has been expanded.” The Water Development Minister appealed.