A Hwange Rural District councilor says delays in the construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam has negatively affected the local authority’s developments plans

The dam is expected to be the main cog in the implementation of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, which was first mooted in 2012.

Construction of the dam started September 2004 and has dragged on due to inconsistent funding by the government.

Lupote councillor Eugene Dube told Southern Eye on Sunday that delays in the project completion was affecting the implementation of the local authority’s master plan.

“Villagers welcomed the project, but the slow pace at which it is being done by the government is now worrying us as it is now affecting our growth as a council,” Dube said.

“According to our master plan, we had planned to develop about 1 000 residential stands and hundreds of light industrial stands as we looked forward to getting water from the dam.

“These new stands are going to be getting their water supply from the dam.

“The master plan was completed a few months ago and it has several other projects like schools and clinics which will see some of them being upgraded to hospitals.”

He said the community was expecting a tourism boom due to an increase in wildlife in the area.

“We are expecting a lot if wildlife because of the dam, this is good for tourism industry,” Dube said.

“The water supplies in the Hwange National Park have dried up because of breakdown of water pumps forcing the wild animals to be all over the place.

“Of late, the government would do culling to reduce the number of animals required per area but this is no longer done and their numbers have increased and they are becoming uncontrollable.”

Dube said there were shortages of schools and Dampa Secondary School was being overwhelmed as it served two wards.

He said the expansion would see the construction of other education facilities that include vocational colleges to cope with the situation.

Dube said the project would also boost investment opportunities and increase the volume of traffic due to a link between the area and Kamativi.

Hwange RDC chairperson Pasca Mpofu said the fact that the dam project is located within the local authority’s jurisdiction meant that it would bring social and economic growth to area.

“Hwange is very big,” Mpofu said. “Those areas, including Lupote and Dete are going to benefit from the dam and we are also expecting those economic benefits to cascade to other areas.

“There is a challenge of hospitals in other areas like ward nine where villages are still walking more than 20 kilometres to the nearest hospital.

“We are expecting devolution funds to complete two clinics that are in various stages of completion but we have not received anything for a while.”

Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Richard Moyo said construction of the  Gwayi-Shangani Dam  was going to be completed by the end of this year.

“The villagers are telling the truth that they are going to benefit from the Gwayi-Shangani Dam project through water supplies,” Moyo said.

“It is still work in progress for the project and we are expecting it to be completed by end of this year.”