Tuesday, April 17, 2012

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE BULAWAYO WATER SUMMIT

On Friday 17 April 2012 Habakkuk Trust in conjunction with Shalom Project, NANGO Western Region and Intscha.com held a Water Summit to commemorate the 100 years of the dream for a Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project. Below are some of the recommendations from the breakfast meeting that was attended by various stakeholders who include among others civic society, business, and the academia.
• There is need for clarity on the operations and separation of powers between the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust and the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project,
• Clear separation of roles between the national government, the local authorities, National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project and Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust on the project,
• The Bulawayo City Council should consider other sources of water,
• There is clear explanations on the progress made at the Gwayi Shangani Dam and on the details of the deal the Minister of Water Resources and Development has struck with the Chinese,
• All the responsible authorities should come up clean on the costs involved in drawing water from Gwayi Shangani and the Zambezi and the true implications of the project,
• The petition that is being circulated should be handed over to the Minister,
• Formulation of clear sources of funding for the project,
• Civic society should facilitate the formulation of a Matabeleland Declaration on Water that is going to guide the timelines on the completion of the project,
• Bulawayo City Council should speed of the duplication of the Insiza Pipeline

Habakkuk Trust shall continue its advocacy work on access to clean water for all and shall continue to lobby various stakeholders on the issue.

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