The Sunday News
Prosper Ndlovu
THE Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has paid tribute to the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group’s continued support, which has assisted the country to implement a number of capital projects.
Apart from availing funding support to different projects, the regional bank also administers “Zim Fund” on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe.
Zim Fund is a Multi-Donor Trust Fund that was created in 2010, as a successor to the Zimbabwe Programmatic Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Zim-MDTF).
The regional financier was designated to manage the Zim Fund with endorsement of the Government, the donor community and the United Nations.
In his virtual address to the 55th Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the 46th Annual Meetings of the African Development Fund, which ended Thursday, Prof Ncube said projects being implemented through the bank’s support in the country have registered improved progress.
“The Government appreciates the bank as evidenced by the recently signed agreements: Tax and Accountability Enhancement Project (US$10,4m), Africa Disaster Risk Financing Capacity Building Project (US$685 000), Innovative Solutions to Support Livelihood of Vulnerable Communities Project (US$1,4m) and Enhancement of Data Collection and Sharing for Effective Water Related Climate Management (US$420 885,37),” he said.
“I would like to re-assure the bank of its commitment to project implementation as evidenced by the improved progress across all projects being supported under the African Development Fund (ADF).
“Government would like to further express its gratitude to the bank following the approval of the Three-Year (2020–2022) rolling Performance Based Allocations (PBAs) and Transition Support Facility Pillar-1 resources under the African Development Fund Replenishment Cycle. We are fully committed to fulfilling the conditions precedent for accessing the ADF 15 resources.”
Prof Ncube said the Zim Fund facility has seen tremendous improvement in power and water and sanitation projects, with state-of-the-art equipment being installed. Bulawayo is one of the beneficiary local authorities in the country.
This impact of the projects was witnessed by the AfDB’s executive board led by Mr Mbuyami Matungulu, who visited the country over the period 17-21 February 2020.
The minister, however, noted that the implementation of some of the project activities under the facility were delayed due to travel restrictions of key personnel, as well as slow-down in the importation of goods and equipment due to Covid-19 pandemic.
He said outstanding project activities cover emergency power infrastructure rehabilitation and consolidation works, and urgent water supply and sanitation projects.
The AfDB Group has also endorsed support towards the extension of the Zim Fund mandate by a further 14 months from 18 October 2020 to 31 December 2021 to enable completion of the above outstanding project activities.
