EU, French firm take Kariba Dam plunge

By CHUSA SICHONE –
A DEAL for the rehabilitation of the Kariba Dam Plunge Pool has been sealed following the signing of a K530 million contract between the European Union (EU) and the French contractor, Razel-BEC.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Felix Mutati took advantage of the ceremony to implore cooperating partners to extend the gesture of funding the Kariba Dam rehabilitation at a cost of US$294 million to assist with the US$6 billion needed to implement the Batoka Gorge Power Project.
The K530 million (approximately 50 million Euros) grant contract was signed by EU Ambassador to Zambia and COMESA Alessandro Mariani, Razel-BEC international development vice-president Eric Thouvenel and Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba at the Kariba Dam wall yesterday.

MUTATI

Mr Mutati, Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Energy Minister David Mabumba and his Zimbabwean counterpart Samuel Udenge and various diplomats and traditional leaders witnessed the ceremony.
The Zambian and Zimbabwean governments, through the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), engaged Razel-BEC to reshape the Kariba Dam Plunge Pool over a three-year period as a measure to prevent the dam wall from collapsing.
Mr Mariani said the contract signing marked the start of the implementation phase of the project and demonstrated the continued collaboration between Zambia and the EU in the energy sector.
“The Kariba Dam rehabilitation project forms part of the wider Zambia-EU partnership in the energy sector aimed at improving access to clean, reliable and affordable energy and for which 244 million
Euros in grants were set aside in the National Indicative Programme for Zambia for the period 2014 to 2020,” he said.
Mr Mariani said the Plunge Pool reshaping was one of the first projects financed from the aforementioned allocation.
ZRA chief executive officer Munyaradzi Munodawafa said he was hopeful that the Plunge Pool works would address safety deficiencies and allow the Authority to spill using all the six gates instead of the current maximum of three.
He said once the works were completed, they would ensure that the dam operated in a safe manner and guaranteed safety of almost three million people in Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania who lived in the downstream flood plains, besides garnering enough water for power generation.
Mr Mutati said the Kariba Dam signified the bond that existed between Zambia and Zimbabwe and that the partnership was being strengthened through the landmark signing ceremony, for which he was grateful to the EU and other cooperating partners.
He urged Razel-BEC to ensure that it employed local people as that was the desire of President Edgar Lungu and his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe.
Mr Chinamasa said the reshaping of the Plunge Pool was necessary to avert potential risks, as its continuous widening would rob it of its ability to disperse the energy of the jets of water from the open flood gates when spilling.