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Zimbabwe's water conservation in jeopardy
SABC News
June 28, 2004

Zimbabwe faces massive failures in its bid to improve agricultural output through increased irrigation. A recent study by the Lands, Agriculture, Water Development, Rural Resources and Resettlement Committee blames the government for the situation, saying the state under-funds projects and fails to pay foreign contractors.

The parliamentary report says rural communities displaced by dams pegged throughout the country have been deprived of their livelihood, as they have never received compensation for their losses. Most affected families are said to be in the poverty-stricken communities of the Southern-African country, which is reportedly in need of food aid to feed about five-million people facing starvation this year.

The legislative team describes as worrying the fact that budgetary allocations for major water reservoirs are grossly insufficient. The finance ministry also releases funds for such schemes in an erratic fashion. Some dam projects have been suspended only three months after they were launched, while the cost of building has hiked to frightening levels due to the high inflation rate in the country.

The group's report says one affected scheme is Tokwe-Mukosi Dam started in 1998 and expected to irrigate some 25 000 hectares in the dry south-eastern region of Masvingo. It will now be complete in eight years, instead of the initially planned four years, at a cost of ZW$70 billion, up from the original sum of about $390 million.

Another shelved programme is construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, part of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, which has also been long on the cards. It is planned to supply water to the commercial capital, Bulawayo, and the rest of the province, whose rainfall is poor. Reports say the delays in the project have caused investors to flee the town, commonly referred to as the City of Kings, while surrounding communities have also been deprived of a chance to grow crops under irrigation. The government of Zimbabwe says it expects a bumper harvest this season throughout the country after increased irrigated crops on farms seized from white producers over the past four years. But researchers say the country needs food aid to rescue millions of starving people.

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