BULAWAYO Provincial Affairs and Devolution secretary Paul Nyoni has revealed that government will take over the construction of Cowdray Park Drug Rehabilitation Centre after a private investor pulled out, citing funding challenges.
Nyoni told Southern Eye that the investor, a trust known as Rechabites, had pledged to assist with the resources to construct the centre.
“The proposed drug rehabilitation centre was originally meant to be implemented by Rechabites, which is a local trust. They are the ones who approached Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube and appealed for the land,” Nyoni said.
“The minister requested land from the council before the investor came back citing lack of funds. The project is now back to the government. So what we have done as a province is to recommend that the land be utilised for a drug rehabilitation centre. Government will implement the project.”
Rechabites executive director Mthandazo Ndlovu said the project was government-owned and the trust only offered to assist with resources.
Government in July last year said it was constructing a rehabilitation centre in Cowdray Park high-density suburb as Zimbabwe battles a drug and substance abuse scourge.
According to reports, the country’s largest psychiatric referral hospital, Ingutsheni, is struggling to cope with the swelling number of psychiatric patients, most of them being drug and substance abuse patients.