By a Correspondent
THE government has cleared 104 km of land to make way for the digging of the 245 km Gwayi Shangani- Bulawayo pipeline project.
The pipeline is meant to convey water from Lake Gwayi Shangani, which is 70 percent complete, to Bulawayo to permanently solve the city’s water problems.
The city is presently reeling from a 72-hour water-shedding regime and the completion of the project will not only solve Bulawayo’s water crisis but also create a greenbelt along its way.
A total of 11 contractors were engaged for the pipeline project while a water treatment plant will be constructed in Cowdray Park suburb to receive the water from Lake Gwayi Shangani with the project already at the tendering stage.
South African firm Flowtite South Africa will supply pipes for the project with some already delivered on sites.
Speaking to journalists in Bulawayo on Wednesday, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Anxious Masuka, said:
“From the 245KM pipeline, 104KM has now been cleared. We have 11 contractors working on the ground and with more resources coming in the new year we expect to see progress,” he said.
The Minister said the pipeline will pump 220 megalitres of water to Bulawayo against the city’s requirement of 135 megalitres.
Masuka said the Lake Gwayi Shangani, a critical component of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Project mooted in 1912, will be completed in mid-2023.
“We have had a slight slow-down because of financing and we think that the completion will now perhaps be by-mid 2023,” said Masuka.
The Bulawayo City Council decommissioned Umzingwane Dam, one of its supply dams due to low levels of water and hopes that the 2022/23 rainy season will boost its capacity.
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