African Development Bank has granted Zimbabwe $108 million to improve electricity and water supply in the country, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Wednesday.
According to the Minister, the money will be used to fix the Kariba Dam and electricity transmission lines in Zimbabwe. This will see improved water supply in major cities like Bulawayo as well as other smaller towns. These areas depend heavily on the dam for their water demands.
The dam was built on a seemingly solid bed of basalt. In the past 50 years, the torrents from the spillway have eroded that bedrock, carving a vast crater that has undercut the dam’s foundations. Engineers are now warning that without urgent repairs, the whole dam will collapse.
The right time?
The Kariba Dam supplies 1,626 MW of electricity to parts of both Zambia (the Copperbelt) and Zimbabwe. It generates 6,400GW.h (23 PJ) per annum, accounting for most of the country’s power needs as well as that of neighbouring countries. The dire warnings over the state of the dam could therefore leave about 3.5 million people in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia lacking access to water and energy.
In March 2014, disclosures were made that the Kariba Dam wall has developed “serious structural weaknesses” and requires fixing within the next three years. Zimbabwe and Zambia were subsequently challenged to raise $250 million for the project.
The saving grant
This grant from the AfDB comes after being approached to provide financial support required to repair the ailing dam. “I am very pleased that this assistance has come at the right time. Infrastructure is critical and a priority in the resuscitation of our economy,” Chinamasa told Reuters.
fund seeking blockade
Zimbabwe owes foreign creditors like the World Bank, AfDB and International Monetary Fund around $9 billion. This has posed a stumbling block in seeking fresh capital required to develop socio-economic enhancing projects.
With AFDB contributing only 43 percent of the amount required to save the dam, there will be a need to borrow funds for the completion of the project, but given its enormous debt portfolio and a weak economic stance, international lenders may be unwilling to meet put forward the money needed to ensure the sustenance of the dam. Zimbabwe is also projected to spend 81 percent of its $4.1 billion 2015 budget on salaries for state workers, leaving little for the development of infrastructure and more importantly the dam.
