AfDB to give Bulawayo council $37 million grant

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is finalizing a $37 million grant to the Bulawayo City Council for water supply and sanitation projects, latest council minutes have shown.

Bulawayo has been facing perennial water shortages, which have been attributed to increasing demand.

At the height of the crisis, the city was forced to introduce 96 hours of water rationing every week. The last dam to be built was commissioned in 1976.

Since then, no dam has been built to correspond with the city's increasing population.

According to the council's latest report, if approved by the bank's board, the project would be implemented over a period of 48 months, between January 2016 and December 2019.