Is Tokwe-Mukosi dream deferred?
June 25, 2015 Features, Opinion & Analysis
George Maponga Senior Features Writer
It is touted as the solution to Masvingo’s perennial water challenges. But 17 years later, the dream has not yet been realised. This is the story of the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam project. Is it a dream deferred?
Found at confluence of Tokwe and Mukosi rivers in the semi-arid Chivi South district in southern part of Masvingo Province, the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam is billed to become Zimbabwe’s largest inland water body on completion.
Way back in 1998, the remote rural enclave of Gororo communal lands woke up to the sound of heavy construction equipment as an Italian firm, Salini Impregilio, tore the earth for the dam construction.
Government had awarded the Italian firm the contract to build Tokwe-Mukosi Dam.
The construction site suddenly became the nerve centre for socio-economic activity in Chivi South.
Villagers embraced the multimillion-dollar dam project that brought a veneer of modernity in an otherwise underdeveloped rural setting.
Exclusively funded by Government, the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam construction was supposed to be completed in four years.
Commissioning was scheduled for April 2002 at a cost of nearly $400 million (Zim dollars).
But 17 years later the dam is still under construction.
Initial projections indicated that construction would be complete next month.
Developments on the ground tell a different story.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Shuvai Mahofa concedes that funding has hampered progress at the Tokwe-Mukosi.
“The Tokwe-Mukosi Dam project has taken too long to complete and we have been pressing the ministry responsible (Environment, Water and Climate) but they keep telling us that money is a problem,” she said.
“We will continue to push the Government to make available the funds so that the dam is completed. The project has a direct bearing on the lives of thousands of people in dry parts of southern Masvingo.”
With a capacity of 1,8 billion cubic metres when full, developments at Tokwe-Mukosi Dam gained national acclaim as the project was touted as a panacea to recurrent food woes in the drought-stricken Masvingo Province.
Prospects of vast swathes of perennially drought-choked plains in southern Masvingo straddling over 25 000 hectares turning into perennial greenbelts further enhanced Tokwe-Mukosi Dam’s status.
Masvingo province, on the strength of Tokwe-Mukosi Dam, was expected to become Zimbabwe’s breadbasket.
It was also expected to form a conurbation dominated by agro-processing industries stretching from the sugar growing town of Chiredzi to the south east all the way up to Mwenezi on the west.
The dam was expected to stimulate tourism with visitors from within and outside Zimbabwe.
However, problems associated with funding led to frequent work stoppages in 1999.
Work was totally suspended in 2000 with the contractor accusing Government of failing to pay for the project.
Government was reeling under the illegal sanctions imposed by the West after embarking on the fast-track land reform programme.
Minister Mahofa described the project as the only one that had potential to transform the people’s lives in Masvingo.
“As a province, we are pinning our hopes on Tokwe-Mukosi because it will see over 25 000 hectares turning into a greenbelt and this is good news to us,” Minister Mahofa said.
She, however, urged the Government to prioritise the dam’s completion.
“Our biggest fear is that if money is not found, the water we receive during rainy seasons is lost,” she said.
“It is disturbing that every year, water continues to be lost from Tokwe-Mukosi because the dam has not yet been certified safe to store water that could be channelled towards such projects as irrigation,” she said.
Chivi-Mwenezi Senator Josaya Hungwe says the euphoria among villagers in his constituency was dying as the dam completion continues to be pushed forward.
“The people want to know when Tokwe-Mukosi Dam is going to be completed because their lives depend on it. The only story in this part of the world has been that of hunger because of drought and to them Tokwe-Mukosi Dam is the only way out of their predicament,” he said.
Environment, Water and Climate Minister Savior Kasukuwere said Government wanted President Mugabe to commission the dam next month.
Construction has, however, been suspended since December 18 last year.
Salini Impregilio is removing some of its equipment from the site to other construction projects outside Zimbabwe.
Sources say the Italian firm is demanding $57 million before resuming work.
Construction is at 90 percent and an additional $30 million is required to finance the outstanding works.
An expert at the site said the upstream side of the dam wall is almost complete.
The wall needs lifting from 86 to 89 metres.
The outlet valves that allow water through the dam wall also need electrification for opening and closing.
Tokwe-Mukosi Zinwa resident engineer Mr Paul Dengu said the outstanding work would require six months to complete once work resumed.
He said the contractor had left skeletal staff at the site.
He said the dam could only store water after the Italian contractor had finished all the work.
“As of now the dam is still in the hands of the contractor and we cannot store water in it even at 90 percent complete. The dam has not yet been handed over to Government,” he said.
Engineer Dengu said the contractor was removing some of his equipment as it was expensive to let it lie idle.
“There are less than five Salini workers remaining at Tokwe-Mukosi led by the project manager Mr Paulo Leon and the rest will return when money to complete the project is secured. The Italians are shipping their equipment to other projects across Africa,” he said.
The contractor is owed $84 million in arrears for the entire project.
Reports also indicated that the Italian contractor had agreed to complete the dam on receiving a once-off payment of $57 million with modalities of settling the remaining $27 million being agreed to at a later date.
Government also reportedly engaged a sugar producer in the province for a $30 million loan to complete the dam with the debt being settled in lieu of water the sugar producer would draw from the dam for irrigating its cane plantations.
The deal reportedly fell through after Government officials and company representatives failed to agree on the price of the water.
There was also widespread scepticism over the company’s loan deal amid fears that Government was going to surrender Tokwe-Mukosi water rights.
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