THE government has cancelled the $400 million tender for the construction of Kunzvi Dam and will put it on a special tendering process alongside 12 other mega dam projects in an effort to deal with the precarious water situation prevailing in the country, NewsDay has learnt.
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Others to be retendered next week are Chivhu, Tuli-Manyange and Bindura dams, National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project and Dande Dam and Tunnel.
The lacklustre mood across the country could also be revitalised with a clutch of new game-changing mega dam projects whose feasibility studies have been completed such as Mirror, Kudu, Gwaai-Umguza, Eastbourne, Glassblock, Muda and Seke dams. The projects will be undertaken under the Built-Operate-Transfer for an agreed period.
Government awarded the multi-million dollar tender for the construction of the long-overdue Kunzvi Dam to China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technology Co-operation (CJCIETC) on May 12 2007 ahead of five local bidders without any reasons given.
Local firms that had applied for the tender include former Zanu PF MP Oliver Chidawu’s Kuchi Builders, Zhombe MP Daniel Mackenzie-Ncube’s Ncube Burrow, Hydro Utilities, Release Power Investment and Inter-consult.
But in 2012, the project was taken over by Kunzvi Water Development Corporation, a consortium headed by businessman John Mapondera, before it was cancelled this week for, among other reasons, speculative purposes and alleged flouting of tender processes.
Environment, Water and Climate permanent secretary Prince Mupazviriho told NewsDay that the latest special tendering for the 13 mega dams was aimed at mitigating water challenges and adapt to climate change across the country.
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Mupazviriho added government had cancelled all tenders awarded as the projects had failed to take off the ground due to lack of funding.
“We have done feasibility studies for 13 dams. We want to mitigate the effects of water challenges affecting major urban set-ups. All those cancelled projects are going to be retendered,” Mupazviriho said.
“By retendering some of the mega projects, we are creating an appetite to invest in the water sector. We are not interested in speculators who perhaps hope to benefit from the Public Sector Investment Programme. We would want a situation where we build a big dam at least in each of the country’s districts in the next four years.”
He urged only financially sound local companies to invest in the special tendering process next week to boost agriculture in the country.
“Old water sources are polluted hence we need fresh water. These tenders are not going to benefit speculators. The criterion is we want even foreign companies to participate in the lucrative water sector. For the National Matabeleland Water Project, we will tender for the pipeline from Gwayi-Shangani Dam,” Mupazviriho said.
Although Mupazviriho did not divulge reasons for the cancellation of the tenders for some mega projects, NewsDay understands that the firms that were given the tenders were reportedly holding onto them for speculative purposes.
Kunzvi Dam, to be built at the confluence of the Nyaguwe and Nora rivers in Goromonzi district, falls in a different catchment area from Chivero, Manyame, Seke and Harava dams that derive their water from Manyame River. Once completed, the dam is expected to ease water problems faced by residents of Harare, Chitungwiza, Ruwa and Norton.
It is also understood that the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) is on the spot on what appears to be yet another mega scandal in the development of the country’s dams.
The latest, which is reportedly under scrutiny by a government panel, involves the construction and development of dams in some parts of the country. Zinwa top management was reportedly at pains to explain the circumstances under which the contractor for the Kunzvi project was engaged.
The Kunzvi Dam project was approved by government in 1996.
