THE long-awaited Bulawayo Kraal irrigation scheme project in Binga, Matabeleland North province, has stalled following delays in paying the contractor.
The irrigation scheme was mooted in 2004 as part of the Zambezi Green Valley project meant to create a greenbelt along the Zambezi River stretching from Kazungula to Kariba.
Covering 15 000 hectares, the project will probably be Matabeleland North’s biggest irrigation scheme.
Petrichor Irrigation, a company contracted for the project, which has been on the site for the past four years, on Friday said payment delays were stalling the completion of the project.
Company representative Daniel Perlman told a government delegation visiting the site that they could have completed the project had funds been released on time.
Government owes the company US$205 000.
“On Thursday, we received the equivalent of US$40 000. We were told that Treasury is due to release more funds,” Perlman said.
According to the project scope, the company was supposed to construct and install three booster pumps, a pontoon and a pipeline drawing water from Lake Kariba to the irrigation scheme.
“It’s unfortunate there have been a lot of delays. We have moved off-site, I think four times now in total because of payment delays,” he said.
Close to two decades later, the irrigation scheme has remained largely a pipedream as no meaningful cropping has been done.
Once complete, the scheme can feed the entire Binga district as well as much of Matabeleland North, a province reeling under the effects of climate change and recurrent droughts.
Binga is one of the country’s driest areas with relatively low annual rainfall, making rain-fed farming unsustainable.
