Story by Joyce Mabika
THE government has scrapped the borehole water abstraction levy as part of ongoing ease-of-doing-business reforms aimed at improving access to clean water.
The decision removes charges previously set at US$150 per borehole for domestic use and US$250 for commercial use, a move authorities say will ease the cost burden while promoting sustainable water access.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Obert Jiri said the policy shift forms part of broader efforts to support sustainable agriculture, strengthen food security and improve water resource management.
“Water is a right for humanity, and for Zimbabwe we also ascribe to that. We do have groundwater charges, which we have been charging for both commercial and domestic use, and those in the light of ease of doing business, some of those are being scraped.
“So the domestic water charge, I think it was on US$150 per borehole and commercial US$250 per borehole, and the consideration now is to remove those to allow for access. What will not go obviously is the fees to register a borehole because we still need to really assess what is underground as we go ahead with our borehole drilling program, for example,” Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, permanent secretary, Professor Obert Jiri said.
Authorities say borehole registration fees will remain in place to ensure proper monitoring and assessment of underground water resources as the government expands its borehole drilling programme.
