Mlusu being briefed of the progress of the project
* The project’s objective is to irrigate 43,370 hectares of land by abstracting water from Shire River
* Conveying it by gravity to irrigable areas of Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts
* This will ensure a more consistent supply of water to farm lands throughout the year
* To increase agricultural productivity and commercialization for the two districts’ targeted 223,000 farmers
By Duncan Mlanjira
On his visit to the construction site of Shire Valley Transformation Project in Chikwawa, Finance Minister Felix Mlusu described it as a ‘game changer’ in agricultural commercialisation — saying it is set to be one of the enablers of MW2063 vision.
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The visit on Tuesday was to appreciate progress of the project, whose second part of phase 1 is set to roll off this month on construction of main canal that shall cover 46kms of the targeted total of 133kms from Kapichira in Chikwawa to Bangula in Nsanje.
The project’s objective is to irrigate 43,370 hectares of land by abstracting water — at 50 cubic meters per second at peak times — from the grandeur Shire River at Kapichira Dam and conveying it by gravity to irrigable areas of the two districts.
Admiring construction of intake
This will ensure a more consistent supply of water to farm lands throughout the year in order to increase agricultural productivity and commercialization for the two districts’ targeted 223,000 farmers.
The project, whose phase 1 of construction of intake and the first 6km of the main canal, rolled off in April 2020 and the duration for the 52kms is anticipated to be completed by 2023.
Minister Mlusu assured that the government and its development partners — the World Bank, African Development Bank, Global Environment Facility and OPEC Fund for International Development — are committed to continue funding the project to its completion.
Construction of one of the siphons
Thus his visit to appreciate the construction works as his Ministry is set to release funding for the continuation of phase 1 from the 6km stretch of the main canal to the targeted 52kms.
“I call this a game changer in as far as the MW2063 transformation agenda because, through improvement of the sustainable management of natural resources, these areas are set for bigger development projects.
“We will add agricultural production’s value chain by attracting investors, both local and international, to bring in various manufacturing business to locally process the produce for both local and international markets.”
The final stretch of the first 6kms
Mlusu added that through consistent supply of water to farm lands throughout the year, the farmers will be encouraged to diversify the crops they would grow — thus attracting more investors to manufacture various agricultural products.
“This is part of the transformation agenda of the MW2063 vision, which is set in 10 year cycle, the first of which is being rolled out up to 2030,” he said.
So far some of the highlights of the project include adjudicating and demarcating 36,563 land parcels belonging to smallholder farmers in Chikwawa with 30 cooperative members trainings conducted for the land owners.
Massive equipment at contractors camp site
Mlusu took cognizance that this is set to be the biggest irrigation project in whole of Southern Africa that involves billions of US dollars and the government is very serious to complete it by the set 2031 completion target.
“I am also impressed that despite the challenges faced due to the CoVID-19 pandemic, the contractor [Conduril Construction Company] have made good progress so far.
Acting project coordinator, Dr. Stanley Chakhumbira Khaila said the Minister’s visit was a morale booster to them as they prepare to roll out part two of phase 1 of the construction of the further 46kms of the main canal.
He also acknowledged that despite challenges of CoVID-19 they are making good progress, which is at 65% — that include construction of the intake and the 6km stretch whose concrete lining up of 3.376kms of 4.09kms completed and one of 3 siphons and under construction.
The visit by the World Bank and African Development Bank
Last month, World Bank’s Lead Irrigation, Engineer Joop Stoutjesdijk in the company of two of African Development Bank officials — country manager Mcmillan Anyanwu and principal rural infrastructure engineer, Dr Wael Soliman — also visited the project and expressed their satisfaction of the progress.
Stoutjesdijk had said it was pleasing that good progress was being covered though there are some challenges being faced that obviously arise in any construction.
