Source: US$600m Runde-Tende Dam plans advance – herald
George Maponga
Masvingo Bureau
THE Government is pressing ahead with plans to construct the US$600 million Runde-Tende Dam in southern Masvingo, with the project expected to boost irrigation in the Lowveld.
The dam’s size will be capped at 1,6 billion cubic metres to prevent flooding of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway.
The dam is upstream Lundi Bridge, where the highway crosses Runde River at a point slightly above 100 kilometres from Masvingo city.
Set to be built at the confluence of Runde and Tende rivers in Chivi, the dam will be larger than Lake Mutirikwi, located just outside Masvingo city, which has a capacity of about 1,4 billion cubic metres.
But Runde-Tende Dam will be smaller than Tugwi-Mukosi Dam, Zimbabwe’s largest inland reservoir with a capacity of 1,8 billion cubic metres. A few kilometres separate the two water bodies in southern Chivi. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said the Government was continuing engagements with local and South African investors who had expressed interest in financing the mega project.
“The Runde-Tende Dam will supply additional water for irrigation in the Lowveld and sugarcane is one of the crops that will be irrigated by the dam’s water,” Dr Masuka said.
“However, the dam’s size will have to be capped at about 1,6 billion cubic metres so that we protect our highway.
“There is a threat that our highway (Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge) will be flooded by the dam’s water if it becomes bigger, so we are capping its size.”
The project is expected to provide a major boost to the planned Lowveld Integrated Irrigation Development Master Plan, which envisages an irrigated green corridor covering nearly 200 000 hectares (ha) from Mwenezi in the west to Chiredzi in the east.
The Runde-Tende water is also earmarked for possible export to South Africa’s Limpopo province, which continues to face water shortages.
The dam is expected to play a key role in the 10-year Zimbabwe Sugarcane Industry Development Plan, which runs up to 2035 and seeks to expand the Lowveld sugar industry as part of the country’s ambition to become a regional agro-industrial hub.
Additional irrigation water from Runde-Tende is expected to support the expansion of sugarcane production, with annual sugar output targeted to rise to about 600 000 tonnes from the current 423 000 tonnes.
Ethanol production is projected to increase to 600 million litres from about 155 million litres. Masvingo already has the country’s highest dam density. It accounts for about 54 percent of Zimbabwe’s total dammed water.
The province is also home to Tugwi-Mukosi Dam, whose water is supporting new irrigation developments, including the planned 30 000ha greenbelt at Nuanetsi Ranch.
Dr Masuka said the use of modern irrigation technologies could unlock an additional 40 000ha of irrigation in the Lowveld using water from existing dams.
The Zimbabwe Sugarcane Industry Development Plan is also promoting more efficient irrigation systems, which will replace the traditional flood-irrigation methods used across the Lowveld.
If completed, Runde-Tende would make Masvingo home to Zimbabwe’s three largest inland dams — Tugwi-Mukosi, Runde-Tende and Lake Mutirikwi — further strengthening the province’s potential to become the country’s irrigation and agro-industrial capital.
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