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George Maponga
Masvingo Bureau
Masvingo Province is on the cusp of massive socio-economic transformation hinged on full exploitation of Tugwi-Mukosi Dam, with the province gearing for several investments following the approval of the water body’s combination master plan by Cabinet.
Tugwi-Mukosi is Zimbabwe’s largest inland water body with a capacity of 1,8 billion cubic metres.
The approval of the dam’s master plan paves for its full exploitation to drive socio-economic development in Masvingo and beyond.
The dam, which covers Chivi and Masvingo districts, is key to Masvingo’s plans to grow its Gross Domestic Product in line with Vision 2030 of an empowered upper middle class society.
Masvingo has already started accruing benefits from the huge water reservoir, especially in the sphere of fishing and irrigation.
Tugwi-Mukosi Dam has been lying idle since its inauguration in 2015 despite gobbling US$250 million during construction.
But the advent of the Second Republic has seen the Government roping in technocrats from local institutions of higher learning to speed up the drawing of the combination master plan.
After approval of the combination master plan, work has now shifted to developing the spatial plan and irrigation plan around the dam and in downstream areas.
Benefits from the dam cover economic sectors such as tourism, agriculture and fishing.
Addressing Masvingo journalists during a Press Club discussion centred on opportunities at Tugwi-Mukosi last week, Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Ezra Chadzamira, said the dam will avail water to irrigate 40 000 hectares across the province.
“We are also expecting investment in tourism with investors building hotels, lodges and holiday homes within the dam’s immediate environs,” said Minister Chadzamira at the event that was organised by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ).
“Our people are also getting fishing licences to venture into commercial fishing and many cooperatives from communities around the water body have been licensed, changing the lives of our people in the process.”
There are plans to create a perennial greenbelt around Tugwi-Mukosi and the Lowveld, with preliminary irrigation works evident at Banga Irrigation Scheme in Chivi South, which is undergoing expansion.
Plans were already at an advanced stage to expand Banga Irrigation Scheme to nearly 200 hectares, providing food security in the drought prone Chivi District and surrounding areas. Expansion of irrigation activities will also boost incomes of rural households, which is in sync with Vision 2030 and the drive to leave no place and no one behind as enunciated by the Government. The planned Lowveld greenbelt stretching from Chiredzi to the east, to Mwenezi in the west, is increasingly becoming a reality, said Minister Chadzamira.
“Developments at Tugwi-Mukosi to develop irrigation around the dam and in downstream areas, dovetail with plans to open a vast greenbelt across the Lowveld that will be irrigated using additional water from Runde-Tende Dam that will soon be built,” he said.
He said half of the planned Runde-Tende Dam water would be exported to South Africa’s Limpopo Province.
The Government, said Minister Chadzamira, was vigorously pursuing development of a 17MW hydro power plant at Tugwi-Mukosi, a development that will augment power supplies in the area.
Chivi Rural District Council chief executive Mr Tariro Matavire said there were plans to develop a smart city at Chibi Turn-Off Business Centre to leverage on its proximity to Tugwi-Mukosi Dam.
ZUJ is holding a series of Press Club discussions to heighten development journalism as part of efforts to catalyse socio-economic development through creating forums and platforms for policymakers and public officials to directly engage with communities.
The union’s secretary general Mr Perfect Hlongwane emphasised the need for ZUJ to be at the centre of robust debates and engagement that nurture and promote interface between policymakers and public officials on one side, and communities on the other.
Masvingo hosted the first leg of the Press Club discussions that would be replicated in all the country’s 10 provinces to tackle topical issues that have a direct bearing on people’s lives.
Online Reporter