THE Zambia government and Zimbabwe, with four cooperating partners yesterday signed a US$294.2 million loan and concessional agreements for the rehabilitation of the Kariba Dam.
Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda who signed on behalf of the Zambian government said the Kariba Dam is a symbolic bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
He said the dam is also an economic structure that generates hydro-power not only for Zambia but the sub-region with an installed generation capacity of 1, 350 megawatts.
The funds amounting to USD 75 million from African Development Bank, US $100 million from the Eropian Union, US $ 20 from Swiden, US$ 75 million from world Bank and US$ 19. 2 million from the Zambia Revenue Authority will be used to reshape the plunge pool to limit sourcing and erosion.
Without the rehabilitation, the erosion could potentially weaken the dam foundations.
The project that has beet estimated to take about 10 years before completion will see refurbishing of the spillway gates and associated infrastructure to improve the dam’s stability and operation.
Mr Chikwanda said it was appropriate that the two neighbouring governments and the cooperating partners moved quickly because if left with the passage of time would lead to total collapse.
“The dam which, supports an eco-system of with more than 390, 000 communities, has developed serious cracks that require urgent attention to avert the possible collapse, and this must be done urgently” he said.
Mr Chikwanda who thanked the cooperating partners for the unequivocal and unwavering support said that an estimated total of US$5 billion would have been required to reconstruct a new dam structure in an event that the current had to collapse.
Mr Chikwanda said the Southern African Power Pool would lose an estimated 40 percent of its generation capacity resulting into serious consequences for the entire region had the dam collapsed.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean Finance Minister and Economic Development Patrick Chinamasa said the rehabilitation of the Kariba Dam was a welcome development at it assures supply of power to the region.
He said the Kariba Dam was integral to the Southern African region’s sustainable socio-economic transformation.
Swedish ambassador to Zambia Lena Nordstrom and EU ambassador Gilles Harvio said she and the Swedish government were hopeful that the project will be completed in time.
And World Bank country director Kundhavi Kadiresan said the bank will continue to foster collaboration and adherence to the highest international standards for the Kariba Dam project.
AfBD resident representative for Zimbabwe office Mateus Magala pledged a continued support to projects aimed at uplifting the people from poverty and safeguarding livelihood.
Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development and Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) Council of Ministers chairperson Christopher Yaluma thanked the cooperating partners for the financial support.
Empty tin Fossil Chikwanda doing what he does best signing away on a loan document on the dotted line!!
So in your wisdom you would rather he refuses to and ensure the dam collapses… Typical ZWD and UPND thinking. Hatred before brains
@ Kay the 5tupid tribalist
Who mentioned ZWD or UPND?
Forget about ZWD and UPND. Have brains.
@Kay …..
Look at the breakdown of that loan, we cannot even put down quarter of that on the table as simple deposit and we don’t even know whether we are guarantors for the Zimbabweans given that European Union is involved. Moreover these people are not f**lish they use these selfsame loans as leverage against your children’s natural resources.
Who do you think is going to pay for this when at the moment your EL has put a freeze on residential electricity? This government is happy to have a bloated govt and waste about $2m+ on useless politicial figure heads like deputy ministers and District Comm..ers.
Wake up from your stupidity…and look behind petty party politics.
By the way my party is the people of Zambia, they come first before all these greedy politicians.
Wake up!!
*…and look beyond petty party politics.
JAY JAY @ 1.3 IS ENLIGHTENED!
The problem in Zambia is the majority are unenlightened, & DONT even understand what the World Bank or similar institutions stand for
World Bank was formed to only benefit Rich Western nations @ the expense of the Poor Third World through resource exploitation. Whenever World Bank gives Loans, they put “Satanic Conditionalities” i.e, DONT offer your kids Free Education. This way we are kept perpetually ignorant, unable to compete, & remain poor/ easily exploited to their benefit.
However notice how the World Bank et- al, are NEVER proactive when our Politicians plunder the same given Loans, as they know, this money will end up in their Rip Off H.S.B.C, or other Vampire Swiss Banks, so Whos laughing?
IGNORANCE IS KILLING ZAMBIA!!!
Bob Mugabe is having his birthday party for $1m ,surely he could have used it to repair the dam
Welllll, we could just use Chikwanda as a plug in the hole that’s developed!
I mean just pick him up shouting and flaring about and stuff him in, with all those contract documents….cement him in! Then years from now after the dam is running again generating electricity, take your kids to the dam and say…..”we owe this dam to great Uncle Chikwanda!” Patting the dam with fond memories!
NO, SERIOUSLY the money had to be found and we need the electricity. since you are all opposed to nationalising the Mines or imposing EVEN stiffer penalties, Hon. Chikwanda has done right by us.
God Bless Zambia
May God Forgive us our Debts to Richer Nations
May He in His wisdom Protect us from our Richer Greedy Western Countries, protect us from debt repayment plunder
Peace Shalom…
He does not sign and the dam collapses. You start looking for $5bn to build a new one or you borrow $300m to rehabilitate the current one, what is more economical?
All a fool knows is to appriciate what has been investe by brainy people and fails to plan how to find it!!! chikwanda is an old stupe!!!
Get loans today with your drankard lungu and grind your teeth when you fail to repay it back
This pf government is a zambian economy neutralizer not fertilizer
loans everyday and decline every minute
Either there is a typo or these numbers do not add up. There is an extra US$5 million being borrowed. Who is the lender of this extra US$ 5 million? (75+100+75+20+19.2= US$289.2)
Loans have always been contracted by previous regimes. The difference is that pf is transparent while the others did it secretly. I don’t know what is good for us Zambian.
Maybe you have never got a loan in your life before that’s why you don’t know what good for us!
LT this article is full of typos and hastily written by your editor who is either nursing a hangover or still heavily intoxicated; the completion date is also not clear.
Wake up LT!!
What really hurts most is that PF Govt is staking us citizens and our resources as surety, BUT is in turn lending half of this borrowed money to Zimbabwe with absolutely NO COLLATERAL. Nothing. And as if that is not bad enough, Zimbabwe is now laid back and chilling out, even planning a US$ 1 million birthday party for 90 year old Mugabe. I find this totally unacceptable.
If you are going to lend your neighbour some big money for whatever reason, especially money you yourself borrowed from someone else and staked your children as surety, make sure you in turn as a responsible parent get COLLATERAL from your neighbour for your own children’s sake. Period. This does not have to be in physical cash only.
You are absolutely spot on…as much as I like uncle Bob especially on his stance on African unity, the man can be very reskless, like most of our leaders who want to live a life of luxury far exceeding the life of an average politican from our so called “corporating partners” like Sweden there which is lending its taxpayer’s money.
Fossil Chikwanda is from a bygone era the stubborn old man was finance minister in UNIP surely EL can headhunt an experienced professional straight fresh from the sector and properly utilise this appointment for benefit of Zambians.
Jay Jay you sound too bitter, angry and verbal abusive towards Mr Chikwanda. If your contributions were targeting the ideas or decision making of the govt of the day would have been very good. Doing nothing not maintaining Kariba Dam will have catastrophic consequences on many fronts enviromental, economic, social, political, developments, future investment and our generation and that of our chidren and theirs. We know Zimbabwe has not paid the previous loan when Kariba dam was built. So the question we can ask how will Zim pay this time around when in 80s they were adequately financially sound and failed to honour the loan? Will Zim get less power after maintaince so that Zambia can export power to our neighbouring countries to start paying back the loan to creditors?
Jay Jay – Chikwanda can not get a govt loan without the approval of the govt. So targeting Mr Chikwanda as a person is not the best way. You have put it very rightly about getting a loan. I do not know whether you are married or not. For sure if you are married you will discuss with your wife about getting a loan and why you feel it’s good to do so and how you will pay this loan back to your creditor. The question will be are you going to be the sole borrower of that loan when you are both going to use the money equally? The govt has the responsibility to ensure the citizenry are provided with survival needs in the same way they are accountable to the its citizens and this what we want to see explaining in detailed how will Zim pay the second loan?Chikwanda is not solution to the…
Remember a bank is not your corporating partner or your friend unless he/she is lending you at 0% APR.
These selfsame people lending you here have also vested interests in some of those mine on the Copperbelt or NW…so when your dull chikwanda or EL goes to dialogue with mines behind closed doors over royalty increase or removal of fuel or energy subsidises what do you think is the outcome?
Wake up!!
Chikwanda is incompetent there are no ways of sugarcoating that the evidence is there on his policy directives…yes we can not do nothing but we can contribute more than borrowing $20m here and there…how about Zesco what’s been all that electricity money it has been exporting over the years to neighbouring countries..remember at one time it was prioritising loadsheding domestic customers so it can export…where is that money? remember that the mines have been enjoying subsidised electricity for years let them chip in via a form of levy; you would find half that money as deposit before going to vampires and loansharks.
Yes, we know Zambabwe’s story but why are they hidding this from us when its us and our children paying for these loans not this old man or EL enjoying holidays.
WELL ,WELL IFINTU NI LUNGU UMUNTU NI CHIPIMO.
The worst species on this blog are mosquitoes who spread malaria from ZWD (Galu watchers in Zambia disease pool!)
@Aleshaday, thank you for noticing that Kay Jay Alibe Nzelu have nobrans!
“nobrans” or no brain?
The other issue I have with this whole loan faisco, unless we’ve been given wrong info is, – We Must be TOTAL MUG’S, to get Money on behalf of Zimbabwe, that our unborn will have to pay for generations to come,whilst Zimbabwean’s chill out, & have a Sweet Free Ride, whilst enjoying Lion Meat. This Current Government is Not representing Zambians. Any wonder Lungu has now made Harare his living room???
ONLY IN ZAMBIA as they say!!!
@Keleni
We are not muggins!
The posting goes into details what would happen if we don’t repair the dam. A newer one would be too expensive.
It’s clearly implied we will share this burden with Zimbabwe. They are our neighbours and we share resources. Mind if Zambia was at the other foot and unable to pay for repairs we would suffer like in the times of Ian Smith (God have Mercy on his sinful mortal soul), with no access to amenities.
All countries have to take a begging bowl out to …Satan’s HQ, aka World Bank, from time to time.
It’s a cost we pay for modern life. Me…I am getting Solar Panels for my caravan and will farm my own electricity supply from the sun. Off Grid living!
I hope you all are aware of new world thinking….Small Spaces and Off, Grid…
Just as we are getting loans from WB, IMF, EU AfDB and a whole host of them, we are also lenders in our own right. We have Zimbabwe owing us…Actually, we had to ask Zim to guarantee that they pay back at least the principal on the moneys they owe us for the Kariba dam assets before we can agree to start processes to build another dam on the Batoka gorge.
Now, we are paying for them for the Kariba Dam rehab adding on to the amount they owe. Zambia is still playing big bro to the nations in the region. We helped with political liberation, we donate food when there is hunger, we donate fuel when the pumps run dry, we build roads in the pedicle.
Ok, the question is, what measures can we take on our neighbours if they fail to pay back our money and in good time? Take full possession?
Welllll, we could just use Chikwanda as a plug in the hole that’s developed!
I mean just pick him up shouting and flaring about and stuff him in, with all those contract documents….cement him in! Then years from now after the dam is running again generating electricity, take your kids to the dam and say…..”we owe this dam to great Uncle Chikwanda!” Patting the dam with fond memories!
NO, SERIOUSLY the money had to be found and we need the electricity. since you are all opposed to nationalising the Mines or imposing EVEN stiffer penalties, Hon. Chikwanda has done right by us.
God Bless Zambia
May God Forgive us our Debts to Richer Nations
May He in His wisdom Protect us from our Richer Greedy Western Countries, protect us from debt repayment plunder
Peace Shalom…
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Chikwanda’s job is now to sign loans. yes, the dam will fail but am worried the loan amount keeps increasing. Am really surprised it took an article to wake us up to this. I mean didnt anyone notice this when zesco were busy chewing away the eurobond??? I believe a proactive maintenance regime would have prevented this huge expense, maybe someone isn’t doing their job. We screwed every manner you can imagine.
All in all, this loan is part of the finances to finance Mugabe’s mega birthday where Lion Meat, Elephant Steak and impala kidneys will be part of the braai of the year, to the extent of entering the Guinness book of world records!
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