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REPUBLICAN Party of Zimbabwe (RPZ) leader Mr Kwanele Hlabangana, has showered praises on President Mnangagwa’s administration for bringing to fruition the long-awaited Lake Gwayi-Shangani project.
The reservoir is expected to provide a lasting solution to Bulawayo’s perennial water problems and impact positively on the entire Matabeleland regional economic value chain through irrigation projects.
Government is financing the project, which is close to 70 percent complete, with a Chinese contractor in charge of implementing it working round the clock to ensure the end of the year completion deadline is met.
Construction works at the massive water body are being done simultaneously with the 245km pipeline project, funded separately to the tune of US$50 million, which links the dam with Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park water works, also set for completion before end of the year.
In addition to creating massive job opportunities, a greenbelt for irrigation projects along the pipeline and tourism and hospitality spin-offs, the water body is also earmarked to establish a hydro-power project, which will help boost energy output for the country.
The project is a major component of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP) – mooted in 1912 but had failed to take-off under successive regimes until the coming in of the New Dispensation in 2018.
Despite bottlenecks occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020 and the prevailing macro-economic shocks, the Second Republic has continued to prioritise the project in line with its thrust to ensure inclusive development across the country as it builds momentum towards achieving an upper middle income economy by 2030.
Mr Hlabangana, who visited the project site on Sunday, said progress on the ground shows that President Mnangagwa’s administration is serious about transforming the region and its people’s lives.
Despite unforeseen implementation setbacks, Mr Hlabangana, who is also a member of the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) Forum, said he has no doubt that this project will soon be a reality.
“I had the privilege and pleasure of touring the Gwayi-Shangani Dam Project yesterday (Sunday), part of Phase 1 of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, which was mooted in 1912.
“I was greatly impressed by the rapid movement of construction work on the site with approximately 70 percent of the work being completed to date,” said Mr Hlabangana.
“Thumbs up to our Government, and the leadership of His Excellency, President ED Mnangagwa for fulfilling a century-long dream that is set to solve Bulawayo’s perennial water woes as well as drastically transform the economic landscape of Matabeleland region and the nation at large. This is a legacy project in the making. Okuhle kuyabukwa!”
“It has always been a pipe dream but is now set to re-open a new page in the development trajectory of the City of Bulawayo and bring permanent relief to the biting water crisis.”
Mr Hlabangana said from his assessment on the ground and the explanations by the site engineers, he was impressed by the quality workmanship, which he described as “unique and extraordinary.”
“The compact and roll technique being used by the contractors is the first of its kind in Zimbabwe. Of course, the progress is not as fast as anticipated because of financial constraints but it’s a project that deserves our patience, more so considering that actual work only started in 2018 by the New Dispensation and that there was stalling in 2020 due to Covid-19 outbreak,” he said.
Mr Hlabangana said although the project has taken many years to implement, progress being recorded so far must inspire stakeholders in Matabeleland region to spring into action and position themselves for the numerous opportunities it is creating.
“The project is a long overdue panacea to the development challenges of the region. Access to water has been one of the major setbacks in the region as such, it’s realisation will stimulate economic development leading to the fulfilment of Vision 2030,” he said.
He urged Zimbabweans to be patient and allow development progress to take shape as he castigated pessimistic opposition elements, that are always bent on negative criticism of anything that the Government does.
“We have a big national security problem of cyber-activists, keyboard warriors and grotesquely confused pessimists who are ever negative about everything and anything being done by the Government,” said Mr Hlabangana.
“Some of these are political scavengers whose political lives are dependent on the suffering of the people. As such, these unleash an avalanche of unjustified and baseless attacks on such national projects out of jealousy.
“Unfortunately, that attitude leads to a paralysis of analysis and obstructs objectivity resulting in missed opportunities and continued underdevelopment.”
During last week’s tour of the projects by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development, opposition CCC legislators who are part of the team were also heard praising the Government for massive infrastructure projects in the country, especially the Lake Gwayi-Shangani.
They, however, admitted that such progress spells their “political doom”, as they have no equivalent to lure the electorate.
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