Staff Reporter
Besides employment creation and irrigation purposes, our wish as locals is for Machekeranwa Dam to become a tourist destination area, not only for locals but for international visitors as well, says Chief Mangwende.
The Chief said this yesterday during the commissioning of the dam by President Emmerson Mnangagwa where the President emphasised the Second Republic’s commitment to implementing programmes to improve water security in communities through availing resources to complete the construction of dams and other water infrastructure adding that ZWL$10 billion has been set aside for construction of dams around the country.
Chief Mangwende said Machekeranwa Dam comes as a blessing not only to the people of Mashonaland East and Manicaland Provinces, but to the country as a whole.
“Machekeranwa Dam is a blessing to our children. The dam will mostly benefit Svosve, Makoni and Mangwende communities. Our greatest wish is that all those people from the nearby places who used to go to Kariba for fishing, now come to this place. Lodges should be built here so that all those who want to visit this place will have somewhere to sleep, even tourists from far away places,” said Chief Mangwende.
In that regard, the Chief said the place would give the much needed foreign currency and create employment for the local children.
Machekeranwa Dam was one of the dams that Government had earmarked for completion under the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) and is also in sync with the National Development Strategy 1 whose thrust for improved agricultural production is expanded and accelerated irrigation development, targeting 350 000 hectares of land.
Meanwhile, under the Presidential Community Fisheries Scheme he launched, President Mnangagwa released 50 000 Tilapia fingerlings into the Machekeranwa Dam which is expected to benefit the surrounding communities.
The Fisheries scheme is targeting the youths, women and other vulnerable groups and will provide nutritional security for the community, create employment and generate revenue for Manicaland and Mashonaland East Provinces.
The dam is situated along Mucheke river, on the boundary between Manicaland and Mashonaland East Provinces and it has a capacity of 75 million cubic meters. The dam has a potential to irrigate 2250 hectares of land and supply water to Marondera and surrounding farms.
