Story by Providence Maraneli
CONSTRUCTION work on the Thuli-Manyange Dam in Matabeleland South Province is expected to resume soon, Vice President General (Rtd) Dr Constantino Chiwenga announced during his recent tour of the province.
As Matabeleland South’s economy continues to grow through increased investment in value addition and beneficiation, particularly in agriculture and mining, the completion of Thuli-Manyange Dam is expected to mark another major milestone towards the province’s industrialisation.
The project is meant to be a cog in the wheel of irrigation development in the area.
“We have already done a lot of work on the river section, unfortunately, because we have received two rainfall seasons, and there is a lot of sand there. So when funding begins to flow, we need to clean and begin to build upwards, and if we get all the funding that we require within 12 months, we will be done, the contractor will just need perhaps two months of remobilisation because he already has equipment here,” ZINWA Director Engineering and Hydrological Services, Mr Takudza Makwangudze said.
Vice President General (RTD) Dr Constantino Chiwenga, who was on an assessment tour of the Thuli-Manyange dam construction site, reassured the Matabeleland South leadership on government’s commitment to the completion of the critical project.
“Thuli-Manyange and Thuli-Moswa are very critical in two aspects, we are developing this area in terms of two main objectives that we want to achieve, agriculture and mining, we are just 16 kilometres away from Gwanda Lithium and they are not operating to full capacity because of water challenges, we are also talking about Agriculture, we are saying the best soils in this country we get them In this area, the good weather and soils are favourable but water is missing. So the priority that we had given for the construction of Gwayi-Shangani and Kunzvi dam once they are complete in the next year, we should start putting money here,” he said.
Since the ushering in of the Second Republic, Matabeleland South Province has witnessed massive development, with the first village business unit, the first drought mitigation centre, the Beitbridge border modernisation and the Beitbridge mining and energy industrial Park being some of the flagship projects.
