President to commission Tokwe Mukosi President Mugabe
President Mugabe

President Mugabe

Innocent Ruwende, Harare Bureau
President Mugabe is expected to commission Zimbabwe’s largest inland water body, Tokwe Mukosi Dam next week.

The dam started collecting water after construction was completed in December last year and is now 70 percent full.  It has a capacity of 1,8 billion cubic metres when full.

The dam, which is in the semi-arid southern Masvingo, was financed by Government at a cost of $260 million.

Environment, Water and Climate permanent secretary Mr Prince Mupazviriho said yesterday that the dam was one of the key milestones of Government’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.

“We have finished construction of Tokwe Mukosi Dam and with effect from December 16, 2016 it has been collecting water and at the moment the dam is 70 percent full,” he said.

“This is a national project which is meant to give water supply not only to the province of Masvingo, but also to come up with various other activities, which range from agriculture, tourism and wildlife.

“It is a major milestone. It is one of the key Zim-Asset projects which is going to be launched on May 19 this year. As a project of such significance and you know all water bodies belong to the State, so it will be launched by the President.”

Mr Mupazviriho was speaking at the sidelines of the Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA) Zimbabwe Chapter Launch in Harare yesterday.

In a speech read on her behalf by Mr Mupazviriho, Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said the Ministry was grateful to the coming of the Ecosystem based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA) to Zimbabwe.

She said the organisation’s programmes were set to compliment Government efforts and priorities with regard climate change adaptation and food and nutrition security. “EBAFOSA as an all-inclusive pan-African framework and platform for countries, urges institutions and communities to rally together and engage in implementing sustainable systems on resources management,” she said.

“In view of the global threat from climate change, the focus of EBAFOSA should be to foster linkages, knowledge and experience sharing as well as peer learning across the African continent.

“It is my hope that this initiative will enhance Zimbabwe’s capacity to meet its national and international development goals as pronounced in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset), Africa Union’s Agenda 2063, the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, among other programmes.”

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said EBAFOSA would forge mutual partnerships aimed at developing policy and implementing action solutions to ensure Ecosystems Based Adaptation (EBA)-driven agriculture and its linkage to commercial value-chains.

“EBAFOSA will also support the domestication and implementation of grandeur climate change and sustainable development blueprints, especially Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

Dr Made said there was need for Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) to decentralise tobacco auction floors to ensure that farmers did not wait long periods.

He said the decentralisation would also minimise the costs and improve the quality of the crop delivered.

 

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