BY Richard Muponde
BULILIMA Rural District Council (BRDC) is seeking US$40 000 to repair six schools that were recently damaged by a storm.
The storm hit the area and plunged Plumtree town into darkness after felling electricity poles.
The destroyed schools were Gala, Gambu, Mbimba1, Mangubo, Gonde and Muke.
Gonde and Muke were the most affected with structures completely destroyed.
Last week, BRDC engaged evaluators who put the cost of repairing the schools at US$40 000.
Chief executive officer John Brown Ncube yesterday said they were mobilising the funds.
“We estimated the cost of the damage for all the six schools to be US$40 000. We are now busy mobilising the funds from well-wishers and interested parties. We hope soon we will manage to repair one or two schools,” Ncube said.
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He said they were racing against time to repair the schools before the onset of the rainy season.
Information and Communications Technology deputy minister and Bulilima West member of Parliament, Dingimuzi Phuti said Muke and Gonde needed urgent repairs for Grade Seven examinations to be conducted in December.
“I don’t know if we will have adequate infrastructure to allow for writing of examinations at Muke, if I should say. What’s pleasing is that we have been made aware and we are now alert and we are doing what we can to try to get the situation rectified before the onset of the rainy season,” Phuti said.
However, there were no casualties as the classroom blocks collapsed at night.
The destruction comes barely a month after another school, Fairview Primary School, in the same district had a classroom’s roof blown off by a wind storm.
The storm, accompanied high speed winds, reportedly pounded the district for seven hours on Wednesday, causing extensive damage.
The run-off reportedly flooded the Maitengwe River which burst its banks, flooding Maitengwe Border Post.
