Sifelani Tsiko
Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor

Why is project management important? This is an interesting question that most people often pose during the rigour of architecting projects to properly fit within the local and broader national context for development frameworks. In this report, our Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor Sifelani Tsiko (ST),  speaks to Peter Banda (PB) CEO of Project Management Zimbabwe about why the Government is increasingly roping in professionals to ensure various development projects are implemented on time, keeping the country’s Vision 2030 development agenda on track for success.

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ST: The Government this year outlined its vision of having a greenbelt from Zhove to Beitbridge which should see more farmers utilising the Zhove Dam to spur agricultural output in Matabeleland South Province. It has been reported that through water-saving technologies, Zhove Dam can support the irrigation of up to 10 000 hectares. Could you briefly tell us about your organisation and what role it is playing to rehabilitate the Zhove Irrigation Project?

PB: The Zhove Irrigation Project is part of the several national irrigation schemes expansion programmes being implemented through the ministry of agriculture. As the Project Management Zimbabwe (PMZ), the country’s largest association of project management experts, we are excited to come on board as partners in the ministry responsible for building project management capacity skills for the Project Implementation Unit (PIU).

The unit consists of 15 team members drawn from various Government departments and parastatals comprising of civil and water engineers, administrators, technicians, directors and project managers. Zhove is a special irrigation project that will be funded by investors from Kuwait to the tune of US$3,5 million and is set to deliver water to 3 500 hectares of horticulture land in Beitbridge by 2024.

ST: Why did the Government through the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement enlist your services?

PB: PMZ is Zimbabwe’s largest association of project managers and we have been assisting private and public organisations in the country for the last 10 years to successful deliver their projects. Our intervention footprints through the simplified PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) methodology of project management are visible in parastatals such as Zinara, Tobacco Research Board and Cotton Company of Zimbabwe where we have played our part in helping the institutions to deliver tangible projects on time and at reduced cost, helping to attain some of the goals set under the Second Republic.

Our vision to become the leading centre for project management excellence is consistent with Government’s vision to attain an upper middle income status by 2030. In addition, as alluded to by President Mnangagwa recently, Government will save a lot of money by sub-contracting local technocrats in infrastructure development projects, instead of engaging costly expatriate services.

ST: How is your organisation supporting the expansion of the Zhove Irrigation Project?

PB: We are mentoring the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) during the project planning and execution process. We are equipping them with the essential project management tools and techniques to minimise project failure. Given the magnitude of the project and the foreign investor arm involved, we are throwing all our expert support to Government to ensure that the project is delivered within scope, planned schedule and budgets to the expectations of all stakeholders.

ST: Irrigation projects have collapsed in the past due to a number of factors related to poor leadership, poor access to credit and finance, lack of access to markets and lack of irrigation infrastructure. Are you confident that empowerment of farmers through knowledge and training can avert the collapse of the irrigation scheme?

PB: Any infrastructure development project such as irrigation schemes have two levels of management, the project level and the operational level, both are important to measure the success of the entire project. Both levels indeed need specific training interventions continuously for stakeholders involved, to minimise project failure. New skills training interventions will always be required for project teams and farmers who will take over the irrigation schemes once delivered to unlock the project’s maximum benefits. Lessons learnt from the failure of similar projects are being used to train our farmers and government extension workers in this new project.

ST: What is your comment on the role Public-Private sector partnerships play in the country’s agricultural development thrust?

PB: According to the Government 2018-2030 Agricultural Development Policy Framework document, agriculture occupies a central place in the Zimbabwean economy for employment, incomes and poverty reduction. It contributes 15-18 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 23 percent to the total formal employment, and provides livelihoods to approximately 70 percent of the rural population (54 percent of which are women).

It also supplies about 63 percent of industrial raw materials with the share of agriculture in manufacturing value added at 60 percent, and the share in export earnings at 30 percent. Fifteen out of the 31 industry clusters in Zimbabwe depend on agriculture for feedstock. Agriculture-related employment supports a third of the formal labour force. This present capacity in the agricultural sector can only be expanded through robust Public-Private partnerships. The intervention of Kuwait investors, Government and the Project Management Zimbabwe in the Zhove Irrigation project is a step in the right direction.

ST: What are your hopes for the future role of Project Management Zimbabwe in the country’s development? Where do you see yourselves as an organisation in the next 10 years?

PB: Given the envisaged irreversible success of the Zhove irrigation project, we are ready to throw our project management expert weight behind all planned upcoming irrigation projects being implemented by the ministry of agriculture such as the Kanyemba and Tokwe-Mukosi irrigation projects.

Agriculture is the backbone of our economy, as we move forward towards Vision 2030, we are looking forward to translating the mandate of PMZ from a voluntary entity to a legislative arm that will assist Government to monitor the planning and execution of projects in the country.

Gone are the days of managing projects by faith. We need to adopt best practices approved globally. A 2021 parliamentary Bill is already being crafted to lobby the process, just as other countries are doing.