The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
THE construction of the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) warehouse in Mutare which is expected to be finished by May is now 60 percent complete.
The structure has already been put in place, with roofing already completed.
Speaking during a tour of the construction site of the state-of-the-art building yesterday, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Manicaland, Honourable Nokhuthula Matsikenyere, said the significant progress proves that infrastructure development is at the core of the Second Republic.
Construction of the warehouse started around midyear in 2022 and it is being constructed at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital.
Minister Matsikenyere said Government will meet its target of completing the structure by May this year.
“The warehouse is close to completion. No delays have been experienced and by May, our drugs will be stored here. What we saw during the tour of the construction site is pleasing because the men and women at work are not sleeping on duty,” she said.
Minister Matsikenyere said the warehouse will improve access to health services as envisaged in the National Development Strategy (NDS1) as it improve access to drugs to the Manicaland community and nearby provinces.
“With the warehouse being local, this will improve access to drugs and their availability in Manicaland. Medicine that will be coming into the country via the Beira Corridor will no longer be passing by to Harare where they are currently being housed for distribution. Provinces close to us will also benefit as they will be collecting the drugs from Mutare and not Harare,” she said.
The Minister said the Second Republic should be applauded for having its people at heart and spearheading such developments.
“We should thank the Second Republic for such a wonderful job. For 42 years, we waited for the distribution of medicine from the Harare warehouse even though we were closer to the Sea Port of Beira. However, in less than five years, the devolution agenda has allowed for the drugs to be easily accessible to our hospitals through this warehouse,” she said.
The construction of the state-of-the-art warehouse is expected to chew US$6 million.
In an interview, Acting Manicaland Provincial Medical Director, Dr Munyaradzi Mukuzunga said the building has a surface of 2 560 square metres and a height of eight metres, which is four times the size of the current provincial warehouse.
As such, the warehouse will store medicines four times more than the old warehouse which is only about 842 square metres.
The new warehouse will house around 6 000 pallets of medicine.
“We are happy and thrilled that in the next five months, the project will be done and the progress is quite exciting. Once it is completed, it will mean that Manicaland will have easier access to medicines and that reduces the time that we are currently experiencing to get them.
“That the commodities and medicines pass through Mutare en route Harare for distribution basically means that the medicines will take time to reach our hospitals and clinics. Once the warehouse is complete, that will reduce delays and collecting from Harare will no longer be necessary,” he said.
Secretary for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Mr Edgars Seenza said Government will attend to the construction of surface roads that lead to the warehouse to allow easy access by shipment trucks.
“We are actually going to be having a meeting this afternoon with the Department of Public Works, Mutare City Council and the Ministry of Health and Child Care to chat the way forward so that the road is completed before the building is completed in May. Overal, we are happy with the progress that has been made as far as construction of the warehouse is concerned,” he said.
