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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT says 36 percent of work has been completed at Gwayi-Shangani dam in Matabeleland North province but work was temporarily suspended and will resume after the rainy season.
Completion of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, a major component of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP), has been affected by lack of funding over the years.
Responding to questions from Bulawayo Metropolitan legislator Nicola Jane Watson (MDC Alliance) on the status of the Gwayi-Shangani dam in Parliament on Wednesday, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos said some works were completed.
“The Gwayi/Shangani Dam is under construction and it is currently at 36 percent completion. Foundation excavations are complete and so far 16 300 m³ of concrete has been placed against a total of 250 000 m³.
The dam wall is at an average of three metres above the original riverbed level and on completion, it will be 72 metres higher,” said Cde Haritatos.
He said all works at the dam wall were temporarily suspended in November 2018 as per construction schedule to allow the passage of 2018/2019 floods over the placed concrete.
“The river is expected to dry soon in April and works will resume immediately,” Cde Haritatos said.
He said the Ministry had targeted to complete the dam by December 2019 but foreign currency is required for the importation of some essential materials and equipment.
“In the 2019 National Budget, the project was allocated $35 million against a requirement of $73 million. The Gwayi-Shangani Dam has a net capacity of 634 270 000 m³, which is 1,8 times the total net capacity of the five existing dams supplying Bulawayo currently. It has a 4 percent yield of 160 600 000 m³, which is 3.3 times the total 4 percent yield of the existing dams supplying Bulawayo currently,” Cde Haritatos said.
“It is envisaged that the water will be conveyed from the dam to Bulawayo City by a pipeline with a series of booster pump stations along the pipeline. It is also proposed that the dam yield will be eventually augmented by water pumped from the Zambezi River through a separate pipeline to Bulawayo”.
The deputy Minister said during construction of the Mtshabezi pipeline, seven off-take points were put in place to cater for surrounding communities by providing raw water for irrigation purposes.
“Three of the seven off-takes have been connected to the community and the community is utilising the water for irrigation and domestic purposes. However, additional financial resources amounting to US$180 000 is required to implement the four outstanding off-takes for the project and the private-public partnership model had been proposed to complete the off-takes,” said Cde Haritatos. — @AuxiliaK.
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