News / Local
BCC to revisits a 1975 Insiza Dam MoU
27 Dec 2012 at 06:09hrs | Views
STAKEHOLDERS in Insiza District, Matabeleland South Province have requested the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to avail an old document of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two parties in 1975 before a new agreement is made for Bulawayo to draw more water from Insiza Dam.
The 1975 MoU was signed by the then Ministry of Water Affairs, BCC and Insiza District after BCC helped Filabusi to construct Insiza Dam.
The document is said to contain information on the role BCC had to play to support developmental projects in Filabusi and also stated the amount of water which the district had to supply Bulawayo with. The city was to draw larger volumes of water than Insiza District from Insiza Dam.
The document is said to be the base used by BCC to draw water from Insiza Dam which now supplies about 90 percent of the city's water needs.
However, the agreement was made during a time when Insiza District was still small, but now the district has expanded and its population has greatly increased and residents there require more water.
It is said that the request for the 1975 MoU to be availed was prompted by the fact that Insiza District stakeholders felt that BCC did not honour some of the conditions of the agreement hence the need to revisit the agreement.
According to some sources, which attended a stakeholder consultation meeting held in Filabusi in Insiza District recently, BCC officials were supposed to bring the document to that meeting.
However, a BCC official only identified as Engineer Gwetu failed to bring the "wanted" document although he had an Insiza District file.
"Engineer Gwetu surprised the stakeholders when he started perusing the Insiza District file he was carrying, but afterwards told the meeting that he did not have the document. He then gave lame excuses, which disappointed stakeholders who felt BCC was not taking the matter seriously. Stakeholders need to see the document first since there is no one today, who was present during the time the agreement was made," said the source.
Due to the failure to produce the document, the meeting was reportedly postponed to early January at which Zinwa is expected to bring a copy of the document in question.
Plans are underway for BCC to construct a duplicate pipeline from Insiza Dam to Ncema so as to improve water supplies to Bulawayo. The project has been in the pipeline for sometime.
Stakeholders are reportedly worried that there was a possibility that Bulawayo would end up drawing more water than expected from Insiza Dam yet the same dam is supposed to supply Filabusi town as well as other agricultural projects in the district.
In an interview last week, the acting Insiza district administrator Mr Mandlamakhulu Moyo confirmed that stakeholders had requested to see the 1975 document, as they believed a number of issues contained in the document have been overtaken by events.
"We had a stakeholders meeting last week with BCC and Zinwa. Stakeholders had requested that an old agreement be brought to this meeting but unfortunately the document was not there.
"Stakeholders believe that there are some gray areas in that document that need to be revisited before we enter into a new agreement. Therefore, the parties involved are still negotiating the way forward. We want to negotiate in good faith so that we make an informed decision," he said.
Mr Moyo said while the district was willing to boost water supplies to Bulawayo, domestic water consumption in Insiza District had increased."We do not want Bulawayo to die and at the same time Insiza needs to survive. Whatever agreement we are going to make should not only benefit us now, but also the future generations," he said.
Contacted for comment on the issue last Friday, BCC director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube said he was yet to be advised of the outcome of the Filabusi stakeholders consultative meeting.
"The consultative meeting was part of the Environmental Impact Assessment, which has been on for the past four months. However, I have not received a feedback, as to what transpired at that meeting," he said.
Eng Dube said the duplicate pipeline from Insiza Dam to Ncema would help tackle water problems faced by the city.
"The city might be losing Lower Ncema in the next weeks while Insiza Dam is still holding about 90 percent of the total of the city water supplies," he said.
Two Bulawayo supply dams, Upper Ncema and Umzingwane have already been decommissioned. A third, Inyankuni, is likely to follow early next year.The city is pinning its hopes on the pumping of water from Mtshabezi Dam.
The 1975 MoU was signed by the then Ministry of Water Affairs, BCC and Insiza District after BCC helped Filabusi to construct Insiza Dam.
The document is said to contain information on the role BCC had to play to support developmental projects in Filabusi and also stated the amount of water which the district had to supply Bulawayo with. The city was to draw larger volumes of water than Insiza District from Insiza Dam.
The document is said to be the base used by BCC to draw water from Insiza Dam which now supplies about 90 percent of the city's water needs.
However, the agreement was made during a time when Insiza District was still small, but now the district has expanded and its population has greatly increased and residents there require more water.
It is said that the request for the 1975 MoU to be availed was prompted by the fact that Insiza District stakeholders felt that BCC did not honour some of the conditions of the agreement hence the need to revisit the agreement.
According to some sources, which attended a stakeholder consultation meeting held in Filabusi in Insiza District recently, BCC officials were supposed to bring the document to that meeting.
However, a BCC official only identified as Engineer Gwetu failed to bring the "wanted" document although he had an Insiza District file.
"Engineer Gwetu surprised the stakeholders when he started perusing the Insiza District file he was carrying, but afterwards told the meeting that he did not have the document. He then gave lame excuses, which disappointed stakeholders who felt BCC was not taking the matter seriously. Stakeholders need to see the document first since there is no one today, who was present during the time the agreement was made," said the source.
Due to the failure to produce the document, the meeting was reportedly postponed to early January at which Zinwa is expected to bring a copy of the document in question.
Plans are underway for BCC to construct a duplicate pipeline from Insiza Dam to Ncema so as to improve water supplies to Bulawayo. The project has been in the pipeline for sometime.
Stakeholders are reportedly worried that there was a possibility that Bulawayo would end up drawing more water than expected from Insiza Dam yet the same dam is supposed to supply Filabusi town as well as other agricultural projects in the district.
In an interview last week, the acting Insiza district administrator Mr Mandlamakhulu Moyo confirmed that stakeholders had requested to see the 1975 document, as they believed a number of issues contained in the document have been overtaken by events.
"We had a stakeholders meeting last week with BCC and Zinwa. Stakeholders had requested that an old agreement be brought to this meeting but unfortunately the document was not there.
"Stakeholders believe that there are some gray areas in that document that need to be revisited before we enter into a new agreement. Therefore, the parties involved are still negotiating the way forward. We want to negotiate in good faith so that we make an informed decision," he said.
Mr Moyo said while the district was willing to boost water supplies to Bulawayo, domestic water consumption in Insiza District had increased."We do not want Bulawayo to die and at the same time Insiza needs to survive. Whatever agreement we are going to make should not only benefit us now, but also the future generations," he said.
Contacted for comment on the issue last Friday, BCC director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube said he was yet to be advised of the outcome of the Filabusi stakeholders consultative meeting.
"The consultative meeting was part of the Environmental Impact Assessment, which has been on for the past four months. However, I have not received a feedback, as to what transpired at that meeting," he said.
Eng Dube said the duplicate pipeline from Insiza Dam to Ncema would help tackle water problems faced by the city.
"The city might be losing Lower Ncema in the next weeks while Insiza Dam is still holding about 90 percent of the total of the city water supplies," he said.
Two Bulawayo supply dams, Upper Ncema and Umzingwane have already been decommissioned. A third, Inyankuni, is likely to follow early next year.The city is pinning its hopes on the pumping of water from Mtshabezi Dam.
Source - TC
