The Chinese company – Jiangxi International Corporation – began the construction of the dam in 2003 after it won the tender and was expected to complete the construction in 2009, but it has since stopped constructing the dam due to insufficient funds.
An official from Jiangxi International Corporation who chose to remain anonymous for protocol reasons said; “I do not see the construction of the dam continuing anytime soon. There is no money at all. We are grounded and we are ready to continue with the construction of the dam if we can have more funding.”
The Buhera District Chief Executive Officer, KingstoneMatsinde said the government should intervene and prioritize the construction of the Marovanyati Dam.
“The government should now prioritize this project because there is an increasing demand of water because as we speak right now the district has already stretched its limit,” he said.
Matsinde added: “It is sad that if there is no funding injected in this project then the money that was poured into the project would put to waste.”
Marovanyati Dam was supposed to provide domestic and industrial water supply to people at Murambinda Growth Point and the surrounding areas.
The project was also earmarked to irrigate 3650 hectares of land.
The failure by the Chinese company to complete the dam has resulted in about 1000 people lose their jobs while 10 families relocated as a result of the building of the dam.
Residents in Murambinda have called on the government to consider the issue as serious.
Kenneth Masomere a resident of Murambinda said: “This is a very serious issue. There is continuous hunger in Buhera and the provision of water would have helped the people to embark on irrigation projects, but now we are stranded.”
The residents said the responsible authorities should put aside politics and partner with Non Governmental Organizations and the private sector to complete the project.
Post published in: News