Deputy Minister of Economic Planning Investment Promotion, Samuel Undenge, has called for architects of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP) to stop politicking over the issue but to ensure it materialises in the shortest possible time.
Addressing delegates at the South Africa-Zimbabwe Business Forum in Bulawayo last Thursday, Undenge said stakeholders should speedily implement the project.
“The MZWP was mooted in 2012. It has spent over 100 years but we want everything to materialise in our lifetime.
“We are going to pursue that and see to it we don’t go before it bears fruits.”
Earlier, renowned economist Eric Bloch had revealed that the project would be starting soon after government secured an $895 million loan from China.
“When talking to people (investors) abroad about investment in Bulawayo, they have an abiding apprehension about the water crisis,” Bloch said.
Bloch assured prospective investors from South Africa that solutions have been found to the Mtshabezi dam link to the city’s main supplies and the Nyamandlovu Acquifer project.
“Most exciting of all is that the pipe dream, for the past 100 years, is about to materialise. Now the funds have been raised,” he said
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Two months ago, Zimbabwe got a loan from China of $895 million to build the Gwaai Shangani dam, which is the first phase of the project.
“At full capacity it would be able to hold water enough for the city for four years, even if there is no rain in all those years,” he said.
