Gwayi-Shangani dam 36 percent ncomplete

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CONSTRUCTION of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam in Matabeleland North is expected to be completed by December this year despite work done being at 36 percent, a government minister has said.
The Gwayi-Shangani Dam, which will become the country’s third largest inland water body when complete after Tokwe-Mukosi and Lake Mutirikwi, is expected to have a capacity of 635 million cubic metres and enhance irrigation in Matabeleland North.
Vangelis Haritatos, the deputy Agriculture minister said work on the dam wall was temporarily suspended to allow the passage of the 2018/2019 floods over the placed concrete.
“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 laid against a total of 250 000 m.³ The dam wall is at an average of three metres above the original river-bed level and on completion, it will be 72 metres higher,” 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 concrete. The river is expected to dry soon in April and works will resume immediately.”
China International Water and Electric Corporation is the contractor in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). The total cost of the project, viewed as the panacea for water challenges in Bulawayo and the Matabeleland region, is US$122 million.
Haritatos noted that government has a target to complete the dam by December 2019 but foreign currency is required to import some essential materials and equipment.
In the 2019 National Budget, the project was allocated US$35 million against a requirement of US$73 million.
Haritatoes said the 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.
It has a four percent yield of 160 600 000 m³, which is 3,3 times the total four percent yield of the existing dams supplying Bulawayo currently.
“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,” he said.
Haritatos said it was also proposed that the dam yield will be eventually augmented by water pumped from the Zambezi river through a separate pipeline to Bulawayo.
The two pipelines will meet at Kennedy and follow the railway line for 122 km up to Cowdry Park in Bulawayo where a water treatment plant and storage reservoirs will be constructed.
“The Gwayi-Shangani scheme and the Zambezi River scheme combined are called the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP). The Gwayi-Shangani dam is therefore, a component of the NMZWP,” Haritatos said.