Chinese Government provides grant for Phase 1 of Borehole Drilling Project (Linked to Record ID#62683, #62685, #73024)

On 24 March, 2011, China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Government of Zimbabwe signed a grant agreement for Phase 1 of Borehole Drilling Project.

The agreement was signed by the Zimbabwe Acting Minister of Water Resources, Giles Mutsekwa, and the Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce, Fu Zi-ying. Phase 1 involved the drilling of 64 boreholes in the Matabeleland Province. It was completed on or around 31 October, 2013.

According to the Zimbabwe 2015 National Budget Statement, the project started in 2013 hoping to solve the water shortage probelm in Zimbabwe and was expected to continue until 2017. Since 2013, 115 boreholes have been dug with 51 drilled by the end of October 2014 with the annual goal of 136.. The Chinese project title is 津巴布韦打井项目 or 500口打井项目.

Then, in May 2013, the Government of Zimbabwe and the Chinese Government signed a grant agreement for Phase 2 of the Borehole Drilling Project.

The agreement was signed by Acting Zimbabwean Finance Minister Sipepa Nkomo and China’s Deputy Minister of Commerce at a ceremony witnessed by Vice President Joice Mujuru and the visiting Chinese Vice-Premier, Wang Yang.

Phase 2 involved the drilling of 136 boreholes in Mashonaland Central Province, Mashonaland East Province, and Manicaland Province. It was implemented between July 2014 and June 2015.

In 2016, China’s Ministry of Commerce provided additional funding for Phase 3 of the project, which involved the drilling of 300 boreholes in Rushinga District. Phase 3 was expected to be complete by the end of 2017. In April of 2018, China's Ministry of Commerce committed additional funding for 500 boreholes i.e.

Phase 4 of the project, which involved the drilling in Manicaland, Masvingo Province, and Matebeleland South Province which had begun in March 2019 and ended in July 2019. China Jiangxi International Economic and Technical Cooperation Co. Ltd. (江西国际经济技术合作公司) was responsible for the implementation of Phase 1, 2, and 3.

Phase 2 of the project is captured in Record ID#62683, and Phase 3 is captured in Record ID#73024.

In 2018, the Chinese Government granted additional funding for phase 4 which consisted of 500 additional boreholes, and this is captured in Record ID#62685.

Beginning in 2011, China’s Ministry of Commerce provided $15 million of grant funding for Phases 1-3 of the Borehole Drilling Project, but it is not known how much funding supported each of these phases. For the time being, AidData has evenly divided the $15 million grant commitment amount across Phases 1, 2, and 3.