eBusiness Weekly
Nqobile Bhebhe in Hwange
Over US$2 million is required to finance resettlements and compensation of communities, institutions and businesses that fall within the Lake Gwayi-Shangani boundaries.
The affected areas are mainly in the Binga portion of the massive capital project.
In an interview on the sidelines of a tour of the water project by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development on Tuesday, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Ministry’s chief director for water resources, irrigation development and national WASH coordination, Engineer Tinayeshe Mutazu, said the affected areas have been identified by an evaluation team from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.
He said 27 villages consisting of 734 households and five properties at Lubimbi Business Centre are set to be relocated and compensated.
Also, eight institutional centres that include three community schemes and five churches are also earmarked to benefit.
However, no direct finances would be advanced to affected parties, but modern structures would be built on yet to be identified land, he said.
“Through the local Government Ministry who are the Government valuers, they did an evaluation of all properties under the servitude and throwback areas and total compensation is around US$2 million,” said Eng Mutazu.
“The thinking around Government is not to give the individuals the money but to build modern structures. We don’t want to resettle but re-organise them and be the first beneficiaries of the irrigation schemes to take place out of Gwayi-Shangani dam.”
The project has several spill-off benefits along the envisaged green corridor that include fisheries projects and setting up of boost water stations.
Some of the salient features of the project include 52-kilometre-long throwback along Shangani River and 27km along Gwayi River.
The water body’s catchment area is pegged at 38 740 square kilometres with a 916.2-metre-high flood level and 845.0m river bed level.
Construction of the Lake Gwayi-Shangani is among Government’s major priorities and is expected to be completed this year after missing last year’s deadline.
The Government took over the project in 2012 and the Second Republic has committed considerable resources to it and others in line with aspirations of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) towards Vision 2030.
The completion of the massive project is expected to transform lives in Matabeleland through the establishment of a 10 000-hectare irrigation belt along the pipeline to Bulawayo.
Lake Gwayi-Shangani construction is part of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP), which upon completion is expected to provide a permanent water solution for Bulawayo and Matabeleland region.
The project is already employing 500 locals and more will be employed when contractors scale up the laying of the 245km Gwayi-Shangani-Bulawayo pipeline.
Negative sentiments rule at ZSE
Activities on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange on Wednesday maintained a negative sentiment, with the mainstream ZSE All Share Index losing further by 2.37 percent.
The ZSE All Share Index dipped 446.70 points to close at 18,363.47 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation shed $5.95 billion to close at $2.26 trillion, compared with 2.32 trillion in the previous session.
Losses in CBZ and Hippo saw the Top 10 Index lost 2.68 percent to close at 11,319.88 points. CBZ and Hippo lost 8.04 percent and 7.42 percent to finish at $132.09 and $250.03 respectively.
TSL recorded the highest loss for the day, dropping by 14.98 percent to close at $110.10. Zimplow trailed with a loss of 14.88 percent to finish at $17.02 and Proplastics dipped 14.56 percent to end at $36.31.
Horticulture exporter Ariston eased 13.11 percent to finish at $2.60 while Willdale lost 13.08 percent to close at $2.60.
As a result, the Medium Cap Index retreated 1.74 percent to settle at 36,431.30 points.
On the other hand, Afdis led the gainers’ table, appreciating by 15 percent to close at $391.00. ZBFH followed with a gain of 14.74 percent to finish at $132.00, while African Sun gained 0.49 percent to close at $10.65.
Gains in Truworths and Starafrica failed to lift the Small Cap Index as it plunged 0.27 percent to close at 520,654.50 points.
Truworths and Starafrica added 14.35 percent and 2.50 percent to close at $2.29 and $1.78 in that order.
Market turnover improved to $217.16 million from yesterday’s $156.12 million. A breakdown of the activity chart showed that Meikles was the most active stock for the day trading 381 900 shares worth $45.82 million.
The OM ZSE Top-10 ETF, Datvest ETF and Made in Zimbabwe ETF lost 2.89 percent, 4.81 percent and 2.07 percent to close at $9.3750, $1.8991 and $1.2100 respectively. However, the Morgan & Co Multi-Sector was up 0.23 percent to close at $26.1000
