China Exim Bank loans Zimbabwe $864 million for Matabeleland Zambezi Water Pipeline

Project narrative

In July 2012, the Export-Import Bank of China committed to provide Zimbabwe $864 million USD for construction of a 400 kilometer water supply pipeline known as the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP). The loan has an interest rate of 3% and a maturity of 25 years. China Dalian International Economic & Technical Cooperation Group Co.,Ltd. is the project contractor . The project, originally expected to last 3 years, consists of 3 phases: completion of Gwayi-Shangani Dam, construction of pipeline from that dam to a Bulawayo reservoir, and construction of a 245 kilometer pipeline from the dam to the Zambezi River. Work on phase one, completion of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, began in early 2013, and the most recent reports speculate the project as a whole will not be completed until 2018. According to the 2019 CITE article, the Chinese government abandoned the project, citing Zimbabwe's high risk in infrastructure financing. In this article, the Matabeleland Collective announced that the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement permanent secretary Engineer Ringson Chitsiko on behalf of government had handed over the water project to them.