adminLeonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said Treasury needs about $30 million to complete the construction of the country’s largest inland dam, Tokwe-Mukorsi in Masvingo province. The dam, which is situated in Chivi District, is 90 percent complete.
The minister told a recent business gathering in Victoria Falls the dam was a major economic project in the country set to provide massive water supply to sugarcane and citrus farmers as well as contributing to hydroelectric projects.
He, however, admitted failure to raise the required money on time to meet the target of completing the dam before the rainy season starts.
“For Tokwe-Mukorsi we need $30 million to finish the dam before the rains start. I want money. It’s very little money but I’m failing to raise it,” said Minister Chinamasa while making a passionate plea for private sector partnership with the government in capital projects.
“If we invest in the dam, we can sell water to sugarcane producers and citrus farmers in the lowveld. We can even sell hydro electric power and you can see that there’s cash flow in the dam and that would generate cash for you.”
The dam project has been in the pipeline for decades and it has missed many deadlines because of a number of factors, among them late disbursement of funds to the Italian contractor Salini Impregilio and flooding.
The Italian firm stopped construction work late last year after the government’s failure to settle an $84 million debt.
In November last year the Infrastructural Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) said it would issue a $50 million bond to fund the dam’s completion.
Online Reporter