Kariba Dam Rehab to be completed 2025
MOREBLESSING MARANGE
The Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP) is currently 80% complete and is anticipated to be completed in 2025, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has said.
A combination of funds generated internally by the ZRA, which is jointly owned by the governments of Zimbabwe and Zambia, and amortized loans and grants from cooperating partners like the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union, and Swedish International Development Agency are being used to fund the KDRP, which is estimated to cost US$294m.
The rehabilitation project consists of two components which are the reshaping of the plunge pool downstream of the dam wall, which started in 2019 and, the rehabilitation of the spillway, which will comprise the refurbishment of the upstream stop-beam guides and the replacement of secondary concrete, and the design, fabrication and installation of an emergency gate and a new gantry as an additional safety precaution.
The spillway consists of the six gates in the upper part of the concrete dam wall through which the ZRA releases water into the plunge pool to manage the reservoir water levels.
Apart from improving the safety and increasing the Dam’s lifespan, the project is also expected to see the reshaping of the plunge pool, which will increase its size, reducing the pressure the water spilling into the plunge pool exerts on the base of the pool thereby slowing the erosion of the natural rock floor.
Sithembinkosi Mhlanga, the ZRA’s director of projects and dam management services, confirmed the development last week during a high-level visit to the KDRP in Kariba.
“This is the project that was effectively commenced in November 2019 and is expected to be completed in January 2025,” Mhlanga said.
The Minister of Energy and Power Development, Edgar Moyo, said: “We hope to have more projects and call other stakeholders to partner with us again on Bakota Gorge project and Devils Gorge hydro-electric schemes”
The remodeling of the dam wall will continue to boost Zimbabwe’s economy, according to Gloria Magombo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development. She also announced that a new energy efficiency policy on the distribution of electricity used by people will be enforced.
“The dam wall is a very critical infrastructure of energy security in Zimbabwe and that of Kariba. The work that has been done of reshaping the plunge pool is to provide the safety of the dam wall. There are other livelihoods which have been developed around the dam, there is fisheries, transport and tourism so if you look at the whole economic activities have a lot to do with this dam wall” she said
Jobst von Kirchmann, the EU’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, stated that the Kariba plunge pool rehabilitation was essential.
“A couple of years ago EU has been funding more than €300 million for this nation for projects and sustainable infrastructures. The Kariba Dam can produce more than 1000 megawatts of electricity, so if it is endangered it could destroy more than 300 million lives not for Zimbabwe only but for Zambia as well because they have equal share of electricity,” he said.
The Kariba Dam, built between 1955 and 1959, supplies water to two underground hydropower stations, the North Bank Power Station, which is operated by Zambia’s ZESCO and the South Bank Power Station, operated by Zimbabwe Power Company.
