The Zimbabwe River Authority (ZRA) has invited bids for the construction of access roads and other ancillary facilities to the proposed Batoka Gorge hydro-electricity project. Zimbabwe and Zambia recently signed agreements to jointly construct a $4 billion 1 650 megawatt hydro-power station.
The 16km road stretches from Victoria Falls to Deka Drum Road.
The scope of the project includes “grading of the access road, repairing the eroded sections of the road and construction of slope protection works where the road grade is excessively steep.”
A mandatory site visit for bidders is set for June 21.
Early this year President Robert Mugabe and his Zambian counterpart Michael Sata witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding on co-operation, stating that such infrastructural projects were the enablers of real and sustainable economic development.
Batoka Gorge, 50km down-stream of the world-famous Victoria Falls, would provide 800 megawatts of hydropower-generation capacity for each of the two countries.
The project was initially proposed in 1993, but a major obstacle to the agreement had been the outstanding settlement of debts owed to Zambia by Zimbabwe from the division of assets.
The assets were jointly owned by the two countries during the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, when the Kariba Hydro-Power Station was built.
