Victoria Falls City Council has started constructing storm drains to prevent the dangers of flash floods that have affected the city’s suburbs over the years.
Every year in December and January the city is hit by flash floods, especially in Mkhosana and parts of Chinotimba suburbs.
Mkhosana had no storm drains and water would accumulate on roads and yards resulting in flooding while in Chinotimba the few available drains have been covered by sand and clogged by garbage.
The council recently received $6 million from Government under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation (ERRP2) programme and is using the money to rehabilitate roads and make drains.
A technical committee responsible for monitoring ERRP2 projects has been tourism projects around the country and visited Victoria Falls on Sunday.
Team leader Christopher Shumba who is Permanent Secretary in the President’s Office responsible for District Development Fund expressed satisfaction with the work the council is doing.
“We are impressed by the good work here compared to other local authorities. Here there is evidence of work being done and we have seen storm drains being constructed,” said Shumba.
“What is more impressive is that the council is doing work using internal resources to complement what they have got from Government.”
The government allocated $67 million to Victoria Falls but disbursement of the funds has been slow.
This is what caused the local authority to use its own resources for some of the civil works with the target of finishing the works before the onset of the rains.
Storm drains trenching has been done along Mkhosana Main, Ingugama road, near Chinotimba terminus and other sections.
Road works are also going on in Aerodrome, Chinotimba and Mkhosana. The city terrain is characterised by Kalahari sands and each time it rains there is heavy erosion that deposits sand in drains and trenches.
The city mayor councillor Somvelo Dlamini said some of the major challenges faced by the council is access to equipment and being compromised by subcontractors.
