COMMENT - Ignore the neoliberal 'we can't wait for the government' spin, and the fact is that irrigation is they key to consistency in agricultural output for Zimbabwe and Southern Africa, and that small on-farm ponds are the way to go. Ignore the fake concerns about 'holes in the landscape'.
Esigodini ignores govt, digs own ‘dams’
03/03/2013 00:00:00
by Alertnet
FOR the smallholder farmers in arid Esigodini, just south of Bulawayo, the heavy downpours that have hit the area in recent months have been a godsend. "We have not seen this much rain in years," said farmer Brenda Zulu.
The rains first came in January, destroying homes and claiming lives as people were caught unawares. But farmers struggling to grow crops and raise livestock in the traditionally low-rainfall area surrounding Zimbabwe's second-largest city realised that if they could find a way to harness the deluge, they could use it to help their thirsty farms. So the villagers grouped together and started digging.
"It was a community suggestion that we dig the earth to trap the water," said Zulu as she scooped water from an artificial pond her community created. The size of a small tennis court, the pond now serves as a reservoir for scores of farms in the area.
She uses the water to water her kitchen garden and fill a trough for her small herd of livestock. "It seems to be helping a lot," she said.
Nobody knows exactly how much water the makeshift ponds hold, but Zulu said her communities believes theirs should have enough to sustain their small farms for the next few months.
With no access to groundwater and no sign of help from the local authorities
That would be the MDC - MrK
to deal with worsening shortages, Zulu and her fellow villagers feel that making their own ponds could be the only answer.
"It was already a depressed gulley and we extended it as no one seems to offer solutions for our water problems," she said. "We did this ourselves."
Flood then drought
For the farmers in Esigodini, who have experienced successive years of drought, building a lake was an act of desperation, driven by the fear of not knowing when, or how much, rain will next fall.
But experts say Zimbabweans can learn to adapt to changing and increasingly severe weather patterns.
Sobona Mtisi, a climate change researcher with the Overseas Development Institute, a London-based research group, said rainfall in Zimbabwe does appear to follow a pattern.
By understanding that pattern, people should be able to prepare for the droughts and floods that have been afflicting the country, Mtisi said.
"Most villagers in the flood-prone areas are aware of the fact that in the past few decades the frequency and intensity of floods has been increasing," Mtisi said.
"Similarly, policymakers are aware of the increased frequency of droughts and floods in Zimbabwe."
From 2000 to 2010, Zimbabwe had four floods, the researcher said.
"This means that we have a flood (on average) every 2.5 years," he says.
"The evidence which should form the basis for communities and policymakers to understand the shifts in climate is there and irrefutable."
But until someone figures out how to use that evidence to help Zimbabwe's smallholder farmers deal with the cycle of drought and flood, they will look for ways to help themselves - such as digging ponds and lakes.
"We have to find ways to trap the water not just with our small buckets," said Sithabile Fuzwayo, another Esigodini smallholder. "Water is a serious problem and as long no one comes along to help, we will seek our own solutions."
Rainwater harvesting is nothing new among many communities in Zimbabwe, but it is usually done using small containers that are inadequate to meet longer-term needs of farmers.
The act of investing labour into digging the ground to trap the coming rain is an innovative step — one that more famers might decide they have to take.
Own solutions
Despite the heavy downpours this season in normally low-rainfall areas around Bulawayo, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) says not enough of the water has made it into supply dams, due to blockages in drainage systems.
For farmers like Zulu, Fuzwayo and others, efforts to trap the water themselves seem the only viable solution. Some environmentalists, however, warn that hand-dug rainwater harvesting ponds could potentially create long-term risks.
"It shows just how poorly the rain problem has been dealt with at local levels, in ways that could in fact bring catastrophic results," warned Gilmore Sithole, an environmentalist and agricultural extension officer with the country’s agriculture ministry.
"We just cannot have people digging up the ground without proper monitoring. We have to imagine what kind of gaping holes will be left in the countryside when the dry season sets in."
But like other farmers, Zulu isn't thinking about the long-term risks of her pond. Her main concern is having enough water to keep her garden and livestock alive.
According to the Zimbabwe Meteorological Services Department, the wet spell in the traditionally dry parts of the country's south is expected to continue into March.
This is the time when farmers should be preparing to harvest, and the continuing rainfall could damage crops. But that is a risk the farmers are willing to take if it means the chance to trap more water — and feel a little less helpless in the face of Zimbabwe's unpredictable weather.
"We no longer have any knowledge of the rain cycle," Zulu said. "But we welcome all the rain we can get."
Labels: DAMS, IRRIGATION, RAINFALL
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Dam for Mhondoro
Wednesday, 30 January 2013 00:00
Farai Kuvirimirwa Herald Reporter
Zimplats is on course to complete a dam built at a cost of more than US$10 million that will serve as an irrigation and recreational facility in Silver Star resettlement area in Mhondoro. Island or Chitsuwa Dam was constructed under the infrastructural development project.
It is located five kilometres from Turf Village in Mhondoro. Speaking during a media tour, Mhondoro-Ngezi rural district council chief executive Mr Andrew Mawonde said the dam would greatly assist the Mhondoro community on completion.
“The community will benefit from irrigation schemes, recreational facilities and being a tourist area, will give some people employment.
“The dam will market the district at large and a lot of activities will take place after we create stands for lodges and fisheries and boat cruises to some extent,” Mr Mawonde said.
Community spokesperson Mr Davison Chimusoro said the dam construction had created employment for the local people.
“We are satisfied since our children have been employed since its construction.
“We expect to benefit through irrigation, fishing and we expect that our livestock will get water from the dam,” he said.
Construction site manager Mr Tendai Mhangwa said the Island/ Chitsuwa Dam would be the biggest masonry arch dam in the country.
“The dam will be split into the North and South dams which will have 30 560 megalitres of water.”
Labels: DAMS, IRRIGATION
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Major dams fill up as rains continue
15/01/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
MOST major dams in the northern parts of the country were this week spilling although the southern regions are expected to continue to face water problems due to insignificant rain fall.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) said Tuesday Harare’s major water supplier, Lake Chivero was 101% full although the capital continues to experience water shortages.
Manyame Dam, another of the city’s main suppliers was
79,5% full.
Mazvikadei Dam was 93,1% full with Exchange Dam in Mazowe at 91,4% full although the bigger dam Mazowe is however only 18% full.
In Manicaland Zimunya Dam was 100% full with Wenimbi in the Save catchment at 95% of its capacity.
Exchange Dam in the Gwayi catchment area was said to be spilling at 102% and Mtshabezi is at 90,9% full.
While dams in the northern parts of the country are almost full, the water bodies in the southern region are almost empty with Upper Ncema only 1,1% full while Lower Ncema only 7,2% full.
Mzingwane which supplies Bulawayo was only 8,6% full.
Siya Dam in the the Save catchment area, which is used for irrigation is at 9,1% full while Mutirikwi Dam, which is used for water supply and irrigation is just above 12%.
ZINWA also said due to continued rains in the northern sides, the amount of water in the Zambezi River had been increasing and communities residing along the valley area have been warned to be on high alert as floods might occur.
Labels: DAMS, RAINS, ZINWA
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US$375m for Kunzvi Dam secured
Thursday, 19 July 2012 00:00
Michael Chideme Municipal Reporter
WATER woes for Harare and surrounding areas will soon be a thing of the past after Kunzvi Water Development Corporation secured US$375 million to build Kunzvi Dam. The construction of the dam is expected to begin late this year and end in 2015.
Vinci of France and Group Five of South Africa have been engaged as the major contractors.
The two contractors, together with Locan Holdings (local), Development Bank of Southern Africa, Bigen (South Africa), Okada (Nigeria) and Swede Water, form the funding partners.
But Water Resources Development and Management Minister Sipepa Nkomo said he was not aware of the developments.
“Kunzvi Dam is a project for the private sector and maybe they could have sourced the money, but I am not aware of this,” he said.
If the dam is finally built, Kunzvi water is likely to be cheaper for residents and the city because it needs fewer water treatment chemicals.
Presently, the city uses up to eight chemicals to treat its water because it is heavily polluted.
KWDC chairman Mr John Mapondera confirmed on Wednesday that the loan had been secured and that world-renowned contractors have been engaged.
Officials from Group Five were part of the delegation that toured the dam site on Tuesday.
“The time has come for the construction of the dam. The project cannot be postponed any longer,” he said.
Mr Mapondera was giving a progress briefing to journalists after a tour of the dam site.
He said the identification of access routes from the Musami-Marondera road to the dam wall was in progress.
The actual construction of the road begins next month.
Mr Mapondera said finalisation of the Built-Own-Operate-Transfer agreement was in progress and once completed the funding would be released.
KWDC will operate the dam and its ancillary facilities for 30 years during which period it is expected to recover its investment before ceding the dam to Government.
Water from the dam is expected to supply Harare, Ruwa, Arcturus Mine, Chitungwiza and Juru Growth Point.
Integritas from Zimbabwe, Bigen and Brian Colquhoun (Zimbabwe) are the project engineers.
Mr Mapondera said he would work with Harare City Council to ensure that its water reticulation was upgraded to avoid wastage of treated water due to leaks and broken-down pipes.
Harare and its satellite towns currently draw water from the Manyame catchment area.
The estimated 4 percent yield of the four dams on the Manyame River, which are Seke, Harava, Chivero and Manyame, is 487 million litres a day. The city recycles 198 million litres of sewer effluent, bringing the total available for treatment to 685 million litres a day.
This is against a water demand of 1 200 million litres a day and a production capacity of 620 million litres.
Engineer Elijah Chifamba of Integritas said the Manyame catchment reached its supply limit in 1997 hence the need for Kunzvi.
He said the inclusion of Musami Dam, to be built 15km from the Kunzvi project, would help “wipe the current supply deficit”.
He said the Kunzvi project comprises the dam, raw water pump station, raw water transmission main, water treatment works, water reservoirs and a 14 00ha irrigation project.
The Kunzvi project has had many false starts. Timelines have been given before but nothing has materialised.
Labels: DAMS, IRRIGATION, MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT
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Irrigation scheme seeks US$10m for canal
Tuesday, 08 May 2012 00:03
Masvingo Bureau
The Mushandike Irrigation Scheme Farmers’ Trust is seeking over US$10 million to resuscitate the 1 000 hectare irrigation scheme. The money will also help in building a water conveyance canal that will link the scheme with Muzhwi Dam in Chirumhanzu.
Spreading over 900ha, Mushandike irrigation scheme has been affected by a severe shortage of water blamed on incessant siltation of Mushandike Dam. Irrigated crops at the scheme, that has
1 000 plot-holders, have been wilting due to lack of water.
Mushandike Irrigation Scheme Farmers’ Trust patron Mr Rogers Matsikidze said the estimated 40km-canal will bring an end the water woes that have been stifling operations at the scheme. He said feasibility studies for the building of the canal have already been completed.
“One of the major problems affecting operations at Mushandike Scheme is lack of water so we hope the canal will draw water from Muzhwi into Mushandike so that the 1 000 plot holders can overcome perennial water problems that have seen crops wilting due to shortage of water.”
Labels: AGRICULTURE, DAMS, IRRIGATION
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Kunzvi Dam contractors put together funds
Monday, 24 October 2011 00:00
PRIVATE contractors engaged by Government last year to construct Kunzvi Dam and its associated waterworks and pipeline have almost finished putting together the funds, a Cabinet minister has said.
The Zimbabwe Government concluded a US$370 million Public-Private Partnership last December with a consortium of local, regional and international companies to construct the dam, which should ease Harare's water shortages and balance the supplies since Kunzvi water will enter the city in the northeast, the area furthest from the present entry points in the south west and south.
A special purpose vehicle, Kunzvi Water Development Corporation was established to implement the project under a Build-Operate-Transfer arrangement.
The corporation includes Government, Locan Holdings, Swede Water Limited, Okada Group from Nigeria and Vince Group of France.
Bigen Africa Consulting Engineers, BKS Group and Dycon from South Africa are the technical partners.
The engineering and financial advisory team consists of CBZ Bank Limited, Brian Colquhoun, SDP Africa, Deloitte and Finesse Financial Services.
Water Resources Development and Management Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo said progress in pulling together financial resources had been made.
"Contrary to reports that contractors had pulled out, we are still in discussions with the same people we were talking to last year. No one has pulled out," he said.
"We are satisfied that progress is there. They are almost there with regards to putting together their funding."
Minister Nkomo however, could not give timelines on when construction would begin since there were still issues that needed to be sorted out.
"Besides the funding issue, there are other major things we have to solve before construction can begin. We have to resolve the distribution of the water for Harare, Chitungwiza and Norton," he said.
The project is estimated to cost at least US$370 million, of which US$70 million is for the construction of the dam and the other US$300 million for pump stations, reservoirs, water treatment works, conveyance and connections to the existing City of Harare network.
The Kunzvi Dam site is located 67km north east of Harare near Juru Growth Point damming the Nyaguwi River.
Plans to construct Kunzvi Dam, which when complete will carry 158.4 million cubic metres and produce 250 000 cubic metres of water daily, were mooted 30 years ago but have been hampered by lack of funding.
While Harare, thanks to recycling of treated waste water back to its supply dams, has enjoyed adequate raw water supplies for several years now, the treatment works, last extended in the early 1990s, are inadequate to supply the city and its satellite towns at full demand.
A second major deficiency has been the fact that treated water has to be pumped uphill to the city, with the pipelines entering the city in the south-west.
Shortages have usually meant that those areas furthest from the entry point, the north-eastern, eastern and northern suburbs, are short most of the time.
The west-east pipeline is inadequate to move enough water across the city, even if the Morton Jaffray Waterworks could supply enough.
The Kunzvi Dam and waterworks will not only be on an entirely different river system to the Manyame River, the present source of all city water, but will be on the opposite side of the city to the main Manyame dams.
With the Kunzvi works operational, city water managers will have more than 700 000 cubic metres a day to supply consumers, with the main pipelines entering the city to the south-west and north-east.
This will allow both better supplies and easier supplies, since the double entry points should reduce the amount of intermediate pumping required to reach any suburb.
Planners have stressed in the past that the city and its surrounding towns will continue to have an integrated supply network, so that in an emergency all areas can receive at least partial supplies from just one of the main pipelines, and that all available treated water will be regarded as belonging to a single pool.
But the engineering problems will be considerably easier to solve when water is fed into the extreme opposite ends of the city from two major sources. --- New Ziana, Herald Reporter.
Labels: DAMS, IRRIGATION
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Govt urged to resettle 3 000 families
Friday, 05 August 2011 02:00
Masvingo Bureau
Government has been urged to resettle 3 000 families in Gororo communal lands in Masvingo South to pave way for the Tokwe- Murkosi Dam. Land to resettle the families has not yet been found.
The villagers fear they might lose out on irrigation spin-offs once the dam is completed in 22 months time. Masvingo South legislator Cde Walter Mzembi, at the weekend appealed to Government to ensure families to be displaced also benefit from the dam's water.
Cde Mzembi said this while addressing a constituency stakeholders workshop at Renco Mine.
"There are more than 3 000 families who will be displaced by the dam and now that construction work has resumed, it is important for Government and the Masvingo provincial leadership to make sure that land is found as soon as possible to resettle the families who will be affected by the dam.
"We must also emphasise that the people of Masvingo
People in his constituency had asked him about their fate.
Government and the Masvingo provincial leadership had already put in place plans to resettle part of the families who will be affected by the Tokwe Murkosi Dam at the nearby Nuanetsi Ranch where they will be allocated irrigation plots.
Cde Mzembi said the arid Masvingo South was poised to be a massive greenbelt once Tokwe-Murkosi was completed.
He said companies such as Renco Mine were not supposed to continue milking the area of its natural resources without ploughing back into the community.
Cde Mzembi challenged civil servants, mainly teachers, to use their intellectual capital and actively participate in developmental programmes and projects in Masvingo South.
Labels: DAMS, IRRIGATION, LAND RIGHTS, WALTER MZEMBI
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Masvingo arid, yet not so dry
By George Maponga
Nhema communal lands in the drought-prone Zaka District of Masvingo Province, is an area notable for being populous and arguably one of the poorest areas of Zimbabwe. Yet, it does not take anything more than a glimpse to see the vast potential that the district possesses.
Sadly, poor planning and project identification, have conspired to deny the people an opportunity for better livelihoods and transformation.
The Siya Dam, which stretches deep into the adjacent Bengura communal lands in Bikita, remains an untapped reservoir of agricultural potential.
Ironically, just besides the dam, stands drought ravaged maize crop, a sign of yet another failed agricultural season or, in other words, the eighth such miserable harvest since the turn of the millennium.
“Government should urgently do something for us because it really hurts us that every year we are forced to grapple with food shortages caused by drought yet we are watching plenty of water that could be used for irrigation,” says Mr Lameck Rusere from Rusere village in Nhema.
He adds: “It’s not a secret that, with, irrigation, we can achieve food self-reliance throughout Nhema communal lands.”
If this happens, the Siya Dam water, which flows hundreds of kilometres away to nourish the sugar cane plantations in the Lowveld while local crops succumb to the scourge of erratic rains every year, could finally come to good use.
The sad reality as it stands is that crops just a few metres from the banks of the dam have perennially wilted under the scorching sun, leaving thousands of families battling to elude starvation yet the water could have been easily drawn to their fields with very minimal costs, if any at all.
There are some fields that are situated in low lying areas to which the water can be easily directed by digging channels or canals and then leave the rest to gravity. Irrigation by gravity has been practised in many areas by resource-poor farmers who are in the same situation with the people that surround Siya Dam. The results have been fantastic and the food security and socio-economic lives of those communities have been left vastly improved.
A few kilometres to the West, there is Bindamombe Dam that was also completed in the seventies and has never been utilised since then save for a few gardeners at the spillway who harvest the excess water for their own purposes.
But it has been a case of false hope.
A couple of years ago, unprecedented euphoria gripped the sprawling Nhema communal lands after officials from the Department of Irrigation Development descended on the area to explore the possibility of an irrigation scheme.
“There was talk that Government would set up an irrigation scheme here four years ago but we do not know what happened to that idea which we hoped then would eliminate recurrent food shortages in this area caused by drought,” moaned Mrs Perina Zambuko of Nyanyiwa village.
“What hurts us most is that the catchment area for Siya Dam is partly in Nhema and Bengura communal lands across the dam in Bikita, but we are yet to benefit from the water in terms of improving food security,” she said.
The problem faced by the people of Nhema is a microcosm of the bigger food security challenges that have hamstrung Masvingo for a long time despite the province’s coveted and unparalleled position of having the biggest dam density and capacity in Zimbabwe.
Blessed with abundant water secured in several big and small dams and also boasting of many perennially flowing big rivers, Masvingo was supposed to have been the nerve centre of Zimbabwe’s irrigation development.
Irrigation has for long been viewed as the solution over reliance on rain-fed agriculture, which has not paid much dividends to the nation owing largely to recurrent drought.
Boasting of huge water reservoirs, such as the country’s largest inland water body Lake Mutirikwi in Masvingo District, the gargantuan Manyuchi Dam in Mwenezi, Manjirenji, Siya and Bangala dams in Zaka, Muzhwi Dam in Mashava and the slumbering Bindamombe Dam in Chivi, Masvingo has the potential to become the pacesetter in agricultural production and food security.
Several other smaller dams dotted around the province such as Matezva, Munjanganja and Ruti in Gutu, among others have remained underutilised while adjacent lands grapple with the perennial scourge of drought attributed to poor rains.
The perennially flowing rivers such as Runde, Mutirikwi, Chiredzi, and Mwenezi among others could also support smaller irrigation schemes in a grand irrigation development thrust that would put Masvingo at the apex of irrigation-based food security development in Zimbabwe.
There have been calls to expedite construction of the Tokwe-Murkosi Dam, but the situation on the ground, shows that the existing dams in Masvingo are heavily underutilised with only less than 10 percent of the province’s irrigation potential in use.
As of 2009, Masvingo had over 4 500 hectares under irrigation throughout the province out of a potential irrigable land of 30 000 hectares that could be supported by the existing water bodies.
The yawning chasm between land under irrigation and potential irrigable land in Masvingo would continue to haunt the province for years to come if no urgent action is taken to fully use the abundant water sources for agricultural production.
The chairman of the Masvingo Provincial Irrigation Development Committee, who is also Masvingo Governor and Resident Minister Titus Maluleke, has conceded that there are challenges in trying to fully harness abundant irrigation water in the province.
Governor Maluleke said there was a lot of work that needed to be done as the province was currently sleeping on its laurels as far as irrigation development was concerned.
“Indeed there is plenty of water that could be used for irrigation purposes and end chronic food shortages. We have to do a lot more to fully utilise the existing water bodies most of which are lying idle and are becoming white elephants while our people are starving due to erratic rains.
“Every time there is a drought, like this year, it reminds us of the mammoth work that we have to carry to make sure that we shift towards irrigation-fed agriculture. The water is there for us to irrigate but there are a number of challenges,” he said.
He pointed out the biggest stumbling block which was stifling irrigation development was lack of funding to set up new irrigation schemes and rehabilitate old ones.
“There are no funds, we have been appealing for funding but there are no funds to start new irrigation schemes or simply rehabilitate the old ones.
“There is need to repair canals, buy new pumps for the old irrigation schemes most of whose equipment is now obsolete.
“There are many irrigation schemes that were planned in most parts of the province but we cannot roll them out due to lack of funding,” he said.
Plans were, however, afoot to rehabilitate most of the existing irrigation schemes with support from Govern-ment and bilateral and multi-lateral donors some of whom have been warming up to the country since the formation of the inclusive Government.
Labels: DAMS, DROUGHT, IRRIGATION, LAMECK RUSERE, MASVINGO
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Private engineer petitions Vice-President over dam
Written by Henry Chibulu in Mazabuka
Saturday, July 11, 2009 3:38:48 PM
A private engineer in Mazabuka has petitioned the office of the Vice President to investigate why management at Cotton Development Trust (CDT) approved the construction of a dam, 20 metres away from the Railway Systems of Zambia rail line.
Royal Mucho Enterprise managing director, Joseph Mubanga, yesterday said
a disaster was looming because the bursting of the dam could lead to the collapse of the railway bridge and paralyse the transport sector.
He observed that the site for the dam was wrong and should be redesigned to protect people’s lives and the railway infrastructure.
Mubanga said in the event of a storm, the railway bridge risked being swept away by the K900 million dam co-funded by the Zambian government and the World Bank because it had equally been built a kilometre away from another bridge at the confluence of Magoye and Ngwezi rivers.
He charged that it was a serious technical error by the consultants of the project to endorse the construction of the dam, a kilometre apart.
Mubanga warned that such advice should have taken into consideration the environmental implications.
Mazabuka district commissioner, Tyson Hamaamba, confirmed receiving the petition but said management at CDT had also defended its decision.
Hamaamba said consultants had advised that the environmental implications of the project had been taken into consideration before commencing the construction of the dam.
Labels: DAMS, INFRASTRUCTURE, JOSEPH MUBANGA, MAZABUKA DISTRICT, TYSON HAMAAMBA
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Police intensify search for bodies in Chithawe dam
Written by Christopher Miti in Chipata
Friday, July 03, 2009 3:14:13 PM
POLICE and the water affairs department in Katete district on Wednesday intensified the search for two fishermen who drowned in Chithawe dam on Tuesday morning.
And most of the pupils from Kafumbwe Boarding School in Katete that were involved in a road traffic accident last Saturday have been discharged from St Francis Mission hospital.
In an interview, Katete district commissioner Eleman Mwanza said by 16:00 hours on Wednesday, police and an officer from the water affairs department had not yet retrieved the bodies of the two men.
“I got information today (Wednesday) that the two, Raphael Banda and Aliyoti Phiri, drowned when their wooden boat capsized in the early hours yesterday (Tuesday),” Mwanza said.
He said Banda was from Chirika village while Phiri was from Manthowa village in Chief Kawaza’s area.
“We have sent an officer from water affairs to work with the police in trying to retrieve the bodies of the deceased but up to now as I’m talking to you the bodies have not yet been recovered,” Mwanza said.
A source from Sinda said the accident occurred around 06:30 hours on Tuesday and but police failed to retrieve the bodies the same day.
By yesterday morning, the two bodies had still not been retrieved.
And Mwanza said only two pupils from the Kafumbwe school truck accident were still admitted at St Francis by Wednesday afternoon.
He said most of the pupils who were admitted at the hospital were attended to and discharged.
“There were 32 boys, 28 girls and 4 members of staff on this truck which was coming from Katete Boarding School for NATAAZ festivals. I’m told around 20:00 hours when they were just about to reach their school, the truck failed to negotiate a corner and overturned, so a number of the people on the truck were admitted,” he said.
Mwanza said it was sad that the district recorded two accidents within a short period of time.
Labels: DAMS, KATETE
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DEC probes Ndola provincial water affairs officer over K1.2bn for dams
Written by Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:10:35 PM
THE Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) is investigating Ndola provincial water affairs officer Gwendoline Nakamba for alleged misappropriation of over K1.2 billion meant for the construction of dams and boreholes under the poverty reduction programme.
DEC public relations officer John Nyawali confirmed the development in an interview on Monday but said the commission was still investigating Nakamba and could not give more details.
But Nakamba said she was not aware that DEC was investigating her and that no money was sent from the headquarters meant for construction of dams and boreholes in the province.
However Nyawali said: "We have received information that a provincial water affairs officer Gwendoline Nakamba had abused some money. The money involved is over K1.2 billion. This is HIPIC funds under the poverty reduction fund programme and we understand that the money was meant for the construction of a number of dams and boreholes on the Copperbelt. We have also seized four vehicles, a house and a lodge under construction together with the furniture that is meant for the lodge. But as I said, we are still investigating and we can't give more information."
When contacted for comment, Nakamba said she did not know she was being investigated.
"I don't know what you are talking about. I don't even know that I am being investigated. I fear that in this country people can make up stories and this is strange news for me. I need to find out from the permanent secretary who is my boss. I am shocked about this news because I don't know anything," said Nakamba.
And Copperbelt permanent secretary Villie Lombanya could not comment as he was officiating at a function in Kitwe.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DAMS, DEC, GWENDOLINE NAKAMBA, IRRIGATION
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Matobo villagers in bid to repair dam wall
Beitbridge Bureau
VILLAGERS from Donkwe-Donkwe and Mangala in Matobo District have mobilised themselves to repair Midlo Dam, whose wall burst three years ago.
The villagers appealed for assistance in the form of specialised structural engineering knowledge, earth-moving equipment and cement for use in carrying out the work.
The dam wall collapsed in 2006, putting on hold various irrigation schemes that had been planned in the area. The dam is also the only source of water for livestock in ward 14.
The heavy rains that have been pounding the area in the past two years have resulted in run-off from the dam, creating deep gullies in which six children have drowned so far.
Speaking in an interview at the dam site on Wednesday, Chief Nyangazonke Ndiweni said there was an urgent need for the dam to be restored as the livelihood of people in the ward depended on it.
"We are lucky that rain has been falling steadily over the past two years, otherwise the water situation would have been critical. We lost a lot of fish that provided nutrition and income to villagers when the dam wall collapsed," said Chief Nyangazonke.
He said what the villagers were doing was a stopgap measure to preserve the little water that was left for livestock.
Chief Nyangazonke paid tribute to the villagers for their efforts.
"We need assistance to repair the dam wall, but I am very pleased that the villagers have taken the initiative to help themselves.
"I am deeply grateful to everyone, particularly Mr Mlangeni Ncube, who has businesses at Maphisa, for offering the use of his seven-tonne truck and Mr Israel Nkomo, a former Zinwa employee, who is supervising the project," said the chief.
Chief Nyangazonke also provided his tractor for use in the project.
Ward 14 councillor Ms Sinikiwe Moyo said there were 1 039 homesteads in the ward and each of them had agreed to contribute five rand to buy food and fuel for the duration of the project. She also appealed to well-wishers who could assist in any way to come forward.
"The people of ward 14 desperately need to have this dam permanently repaired. Most of them rely on their livestock to make a living. Without the water from the dam, their animals will die and they will be reduced to beggars if we ever go for a year without rain," she said.
The villagers said they would welcome aid and were ready to provide voluntary manpower to see the project through.
Labels: DAMS, INFRASTRUCTURE
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Govt invites bids for RAMCOZ tailing dams
Written by Kabanda Chulu
GOVERNMENT has started inviting proposals for the purchase of tailing dams that belonged to the defunct Roan Antelope Mining Company of Zambia (RAMCOZ) mines in Luanshya.
However, some industry experts have advised government against including the costs of environmental rehabilitation in the purchase price since it would be unaffordable to Zambian small-scale miners.
It is understood that several tailing dams and mining slug dump areas contain soils with higher metal contents and the areas have been a target for illegal mining and quarrying.
According to the Office of the Administrator General, which is the official receiver of RAMCOZ assets, requests for proposals for the purchase of tailing dams have opened and previously submitted bids would not be considered.
It stated that drilling and sampling operations to determine the current metal contents of the dams had been concluded.
“The drilling and sampling exercise gave the results that are given in the request for proposals (RFP) document and the information on the metal contents enables prospective applicants to make preliminary project proposals with six hard copies of proposals at fee of K500, 000,” it stated.
And some industry experts, who declined to be named, commended the government for allowing disused dumps and mines to be sold to ex-miners and to the general public.
“However, we wish to state that costs of environmental rehabilitation being included in the purchase price is too high to be afforded by Zambians because during privatisation of the mines, ZCCM Investment Holdings took over environmental liabilities from the foreign investors, but why should this cost be passed on to poor Zambians?” asked the experts.
Labels: DAMS, INFRASTRUCTURE, MINING
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$107 trillion set aside for dams
Herald Reporter
GOVERNMENT has set aside $107 trillion towards the completion of six major dams in the country in a move to increase water supply and land under irrigation as well as boost dry land cultivation. The allocation also includes funds for the commencement of work on the long-awaited Kunzwi Dam that has been on the drawing board for the past 10 years.
Water Resources and Infrastructural Development Minister Engineer Munacho Mutezo welcomed the budget allocation for dam construction, saying this would expedite the completion of dam projects.
"We are pleased as a ministry as this gives us resources to finish the projects. There is no way in which funds can be said to be enough but we are grateful that the Ministry of Finance has heeded our calls and availed money for the dam projects.
"We have more dams under our plans but these are the ones that we think are most urgent as they can help Zimbabwe increase agricultural productivity and address water supply problems in the country.
"It is also encouraging that resources have been availed for work to begin at Kunzwi Dam so that we are able secure enough water for Harare and its satellite towns. Now that the resources have been secured, work is expected to commence any time at Kunzwi Dam and other sites in the country," he said.
He said his ministry would continue to lobby for more resources from the Ministry of Finance, given the importance of water in the development of the country.
Presenting the 2008 budgetary estimates last week, the Minister of Finance, Cde Samuel Mumbengegwi, allocated funds for the completion of Bindura, Marovanyati, Tokwe-Mukorsi, Mutange and Shave dams that are expected to ensure potable water for nearby settlements as well as for agricultural activities.
Cde Mumbengegwi said: "Completion of the projects will ensure security of water supplies to nearby settlements as well as provide water for agricultural activities. I propose to allocate $107,3 trillion towards supporting the completion of these dams. I have also included in these allocation resources towards the commencement of work on Kunzvi Dam."
Given the persistent droughts, he said, Government had seen it critical to quicken and expand the rehabilitation of irrigation facilities to ensure agricultural production.
"There is need to develop irrigation infrastructure on existing water bodies such as Osborne and Mutirikwi. I have allocated $89,7 trillion for the development of (these) irrigation schemes," he said.
Under its measures to mitigate the effects of recurrent droughts and weather unpredictability, Government intends to put more than 350 000 hectares of land under irrigation through the Accelerated National Irrigation Programme.
Labels: DAMS, IRRIGATION, ZIMBABWE
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