'Gwayi-Shangani Dam to hold water by June'

THE Gwayi-Shangani Dam should start holding water next month if at all it rains by that time, a senior government official has said.

In an interview last week, Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Richard Moyo told Southern Eye that the dam will only be fill up if heavy rains are received in its catchment area.

"This year June, the dam will hold water," Moyo said.

The dam's construction, to cost approximately US$121,7 million, was delayed for several decades due to funding constraints.

The project - part of an ambitious plan to pipe water from the mighty Zambezi River, which is 452 kilometres from Bulawayo - was mooted in 1912, but was abandoned by successive governments due to the huge costs involved.

Earlier this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa commended the progress made in the construction of the dam citing it as one of his government's milestones.

The dam is being constructed by a Chinese contractor under the supervision of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority.

Mnangagwa said the dam's construction fulfilled the government's policy of living no one and no place behind.

Many hope that its completion will ensure reliable water supply to the City of Bulawayo which has faced perennial water challenges.