River Púnguè hydroelectric

Work is due to resume on the project to construct a hydroelectric dam on the Pungue River at Nhancangare, in the district of Barue, in the central Mozambican province of Manica.

According to the daily newspaper “Noticias”, the announcement was made by Public Works Minister Carlos Bonete in the city of Chimoio on Monday. This was shortly after the governments of Mozambique and Zimbabwe had signed an agreement covering the management and sustainable use of the natural resources of the Pungue River Basin.

The Pungue Basin covers an area of 31,151 square kilometres, of which 4.7 per cent is in Zimbabwe. The river has a length of about 400 kilometres.The project to build the dam at Nhancangare came to a halt in 2012 due to a lack of funds. However, Bonete stated that there were ongoing contacts with the Dutch government with a view to raising finance.

The dam would have several purposes such as generating electricity, providing water for irrigation, and supplying water to the cities of Beira and Dondo in Sofala province. In addition, it would provide a tool for managing the flow of water along the river during the differing seasons. Thus, water would be captured for use during dry spells and the dam could limit the flow during periods when the river would otherwise be in spate.Bonete revealed that the Zimbabwean government is interested in constructing its own dam in the basin to manage the water supply.

He told reporters that the accord cements the friendship and cooperation between the two nations and will enable both countries to avoid in the future the extreme weather events such as floods and droughts which have previously had catastrophic effects.The minister declared that only through the proper and sustainable management of resources can water conflicts be avoided. He recalled that Mozambique has signed similar agreements with other countries with which it shares hydrological resources, namely with South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania.

Mozambique and Zimbabwe also share the Limpopo and Zambezi river basins.