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Monalisa Chikwengo
THE Gwayi-Shangani Dam is expected to start impounding water in the forthcoming 2023/24 summer season on the backdrop of reports that construction work is now 70, 2 percent towards completion.
The project is being funded by Government through the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) and implemented through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA).
The dam has a capacity of 635 million cubic metres, making it the country’s third largest inland water body after Tugwi-Mukosi and Mutirikwi, which are both in Masvingo Province.
This will therefore make Gwayi-Shangani the largest dam in Matabeleland North Province.
ZINWA Corporate communications and marketing manager, Mrs Marjorie Munyonga said the dam would help unlock opportunities in the areas of power generation, tourism and fisheries.
“The biggest opportunity from the project will through its facilitation of agriculture projects through irrigation while supplying water to the Bulawayo and Matabeleland region,” she said.
Gwayi-Shangani Dam is one of the 12 game changer projects initiated by Government aimed at modernising the sector in line with the agenda of facilitating a contemporary, sustainable and viable smart agricultural sector.
“The dam will deliver water to Bulawayo through a pipeline, which is also under construction. A greenbelt of 10 000 hectares of irrigated land to benefit communities between the dam and Bulawayo will be established along the pipeline,” she said.
Mrs Munyonga added that the dam would bring considerable impact on the country’s water security especially in the two Matabeleland provinces.
“The completion and operationalisation of Gwayi-Shangani Dam as a raw water source for the city of Bulawayo will, without doubt, help free up water in some dams in Matabeleland South, which have traditionally acted as the raw water sources for Bulawayo,” she said.
Other major dams under construction are Semwa Dam in Rushinga, Ziminya Dam in Nkayi, Matabeleland North, Vungu Dam in Silobela, Midlands, while Muchekeranwa dam near Marondera has since been completed. Long planned Kunzvi Dam also took off at the inception of the Second Republic.
Online Reporter