GWAYI: The future of the Gwayi/Shangani dam is now clouded with uncertainty after a mining company was recently allowed to undertake coal mining activities in the water catchment area under unclear circumstances. (Pictured: Construction of the dam at the confluence of the Gwayi and Shang
Liberation Mining has already moved in at the site and started extracting coal in the catchment area of the dam. The area is also part of the Gwayi Intensive wildlife conservation project.
The move to mine coal in the area has already irked the Zimbabwe Water Authority (ZINWA), the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP) as well as environmentalists and animal conservationists.
From both an environmental and economic point of view, this coal mining venture is a disaster. For example, no environmental impact assessment study was done. The mining venture is also situated on the corridor of the presidential elephant herd, said Philip Taylor who runs a wildlife conservancy in the area.
The chairman of the MZWP, Dumiso Dabengwa, professed ignorance about the coal mining venture.
If it is true that there is such a venture taking place in Gwayi/ Shangani then we are not aware as MZWP. What is crystal clear is that the benefits of the dam far outweigh those of coal mining from both an economic and environmental point of view. Besides producing water for Bulawayo and hydro electrical power, the dam would also help create irrigation for villagers along the corridor, said Dabengwa.
The Zimbabwean news crew visited area last week and saw workers busy working on the site.
Construction of the dam is the first phase of the MZWP project to bring water from the Zambezi River. The government approved the project in 1997 after the completion of a feasibility study. Preliminary work for the long-awaited scheme, which involves a 70 metre dam wall at the confluence of the Gwayi and Shangani rivers, has already kicked off.
Efforts to establish the owners of the mining venture were all in vain. Workers at the site said they were not allowed to speak to the press.
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