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'Zambezi water project will remain a pipe dream,' says Biti

by Staff reporter
28 May 2014 at 12:53hrs | Views
The former minister of Finance Tendai Biti says the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project - touted as the long-term solution to the southern region's water woes - will remain a pipe dream as the Chinese who had pledged to fund the project had abandoned it, saying Zimbabwe was a high investment risk.

In December 2012, and as Finance minister under the Government of National Unity (GNU), Biti presided over the signing of a contract between the government of Zimbabwe and a Chinese Import and Export Bank, where the nation's eastern friends pledged to support the project with a $1,2 billion loan.

The project was then renamed the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project and headed by the then minister of Water and Infrastructural Development Samuel Sipepa Nkomo who had heralded the news that a Chinese bank had offered to lend $1,2 bn to the project.

Biti, yesterday, said the contract was signed and handed to the Chinese bank who said they would not be supporting the project as they had classified Zimbabwe as a risky investment nation.

"Nkomo (Sipepa) worked really hard in securing the sponsor for the project and everyone was happy but when the Chinese reviewed the contract, they classified Zimbabwe under the Minus D category, meaning that it will be risky to lend us money because we have no capacity to repay the loan," said Biti.

He  said when he left government last year at the end of the GNU, the Chinese were still pretending  that they were  reviewing the contract but there were no signs that they would  give the country any financial aid, adding that it was time they tried other avenues.

"What is key for Zimbabwe is to try and have negotiations with others between the World Bank and the Infrastructural Development Bank of Zimbabwe because this is a massive project that will have huge returns, and the World Bank will be interested.

"Second suggestion is that this is a regional project and will attract the attention of neighbouring countries like Zambia, Botswana and South Africa, so they should be invited into the project because our government cannot go it alone," said Biti.

The project, which entails constructing more than 400-km water pipeline linking Bulawayo and local authorities in the southern region, was first mooted by the colonial government in 1912.

It is supposed to be in the three phases, the first being the completion of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam which will act as a reservoir for the Zambezi River water.

In the second phase, a pipeline will be built connecting the Gwayi-Shangani Dam to a reservoir in Bulawayo's Cowdray Park suburb whilst the third phase will be the construction of a 245-km pipeline from the Zambezi River to the Gwayi-Shangani Dam but up to now, not even a metre of the pipeline has been laid.

Contacted for comment, the minister of Environment, Water and Climate Saviour Kasukuwere, who is believed to be in possession of a draft Environmental Impact Assessment Report on the Gwaai-Shangani Dam, said he could not say much except that something was being done about the project.

"I can't say anything as of now, I will say it when it's time, but just know that something is being done," said Kasukuwere.

The National Matabeleland Water Project which was nationalised under Nkomo's ministry during the GNU has since been handed back to Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project  chairperson, Dumiso Dabengwa.

Source - Zim Mail
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