Source: Gwayi-Shangani Dam on track to supply Byo water: ED – NewsDay Zimbabwe
BY PRESTIGE MUNTANGA/SILAS NKALA
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangwagwa has promised to speed-up the completion of the Gwayi-Shangani pipeline to feed water into Bulawayo.
Addressing residents in Barbourfields, Bulawayo, during the national clean-up campaign where he told participants that installation of the pipes will be completed next year.
He said government had since contracted companies to dig trenches for the pipeline connecting the dam to Bulawayo.
The Gwayi-Shangani Dam is expected to ease perennial water problems in Bulawayo and Matabeleland North province.
“We are building our country brick-by-brick, stone up on stone. Bulawayo historically has always had the problem of water. So, my government has resolved that this issue must be resolved once and for all.
“When the Gwayi-Shangani Dam gets completed next year, it will improve water supplies.
“We are also recruiting local companies to dig trenches from Gwayi to Bulawayo,” Mnangagwa said.
“This time next year, whoever will be complaining about water in Bulawayo will be lying,” he said.
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has said the Gwayi-Shangani Dam was 59% complete.
Recently, the government selected six contractors to work on the 245km pipeline that connects Gwayi-Shangani Dam to Bulawayo, and insists that implementation timelines for both the pipeline and dam projects will be met as planned.
About $535 million was allocated towards commencement of work on the pipeline by government.
Mnangagwa encouraged proper waste management practices in the country.
“Recycling has a potential to produce green power for our cities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bulawayo Central MP Nicola Jane Watson said waste from Belmont Industrial site was polluting Umguza River.
Watson made the remarks during a recent meeting organised by the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights in Bulawayo.
She said: “If I look at my constituency, which stretches from Cresta Churchill area where there are streams flowing into Umguza River, the level of contamination and pollution is shocking.”
She also said squatters at Ngozi Mine in the Richmond area were polluting the environment.
Recently, the Environmental Management Agency exposed Bulawayo City Council for failure to timeously repair burst sewage pipes, as well as failure to collect waste in residential areas.
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