Govt pays 12m euros for Tokwe-Mukorsi Dam

construction which had stalled six years ago halting hopes of turning parts of the drought prone Masvingo province into green belts.
Representatives of Salina Impregilio met President Mugabe in Rome on Saturday night at a dinner they hosted for the Zimbabwean delegation which was in Italy to attend the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II.
The Salina delegation expressed their gratitude to Government for the payments the company had received.
Salina senior vice president Mr Jens Mirabele confirmed at the dinner that his firm had received the outstanding six million euro and a further six million euro, which they would use to mobilise all the materials needed to complete work at the dam.
He indicated that his company would now be in a position to hand over the finished dam to the Zimbabwean Government within two months from now.
Sources in the Zimbabwe delegation said the meeting was cordial and the Salina officials reminisced on their encounters with Harare authorities since they were contracted to build Tokwe-Murkosi Dam.
Sources said the 12 million euro was paid after pressure was put on Finance Minister Tendai Biti to release the money.
Mr Biti had allocated US$7 million for the project in this year’s budget but work was still to resume because the money had not yet been paid to Salini.
Government has identified irrigation as a way to counter droughts given the unpredictable nature of rainfall patterns.
When complete the dam has potential to irrigate more than 25 000 hectares of land and turn the southern parts of Masvingo and Chivi into greenbelts, ending the province’s basket case status stemming from perennial drought-induced food shortages.
The dam will become Zimbabwe’s largest inland water body with capacity to hold 1,2 million cubic metres of water.
Construction at the dam started in 1998 and was supposed to be completed in 2002 but Salini, the main contractors, suspended the contract over payment problems.
On Sunday Mr Don Matteo Zuppi of the St Egidio community paid a courtesy call on President Mugabe in Rome.
President Mugabe worked with the St Egidio in brokering the peace deal that ended the Mozambican civil war between the government and the former rebel group, Renamo, which is now that country’s opposition.