Construction progress at Gwayi-Shangani-Dam (Picture courtesy of ZINWA)

CONCRETE placement is on-going at the Lake Gwayi-Shangani project in Matabeleland North Province as the Government races to meet project completion deadline by December this year.

The Government renamed the massive project from a “dam” to a “lake” last month and announced a process to develop an integrated master plan, with the treasury expected to release $2,2 billion this month to speed up progress.

The lake has a holding capacity of 650 million cubic metres of water and is a significant milestone under the Second Republic towards improving the livelihood of rural communities through the creation of an irrigation greenbelt for communities in the province.

“Ongoing concrete placement at #GwayiShangani Dam this morning. The structure is coming out nicely,” said ZINWA in an update on its twitter account.

“The journey towards creating a #water secure Zimbabwe is on course. For us at ZINWA, the task is clear; commitment to performing the task; unwavering.”

The dam project is a major component of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP), which upon completion is expected to provide a permanent water solution for Bulawayo and Matabeleland region.

A 245km pipeline will be constructed to connect the water body to Bulawayo and this phase is expected to be complete by 2022. Government has since allocated $535 million towards commencement of the pipeline

Treasury has prioritised funding for the project with an allocation of $4,5 billion to ensure speedy implementation.