A new 42km, 962mm pipeline to supply water to the Hwange Power Station was commissioned on Monday, August 6.
Hwange Power Station, Zimbabwe’s largest coal-fired plant, draws raw water from the Zambezi River for electricity generation and cooling.
The $48.1 million construction of the pipeline was funded through an Exim Bank of India credit line.
The pipeline will provide water for the expanded Hwange Power Station, including the new Units 7 and 8, as well as the local Deka community.
The Deka Upgrade Project, which began on October 1, 2021, was officially launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa at a ground-breaking ceremony in March 2022.
The new pipeline runs parallel to the existing one used by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) to supply the power station and Hwange community, with three offtakes along the way.
The project was handed over to the Zimbabwean government through the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) by an Indian government delegation led by Shri Puneet Kundal, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, and Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Vijay Khanduja.
Speaking at the handover and commissioning ceremony, Energy and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo said:
<blockquote>
The Deka upgrading project is contributing towards the generation of 600MW more power at the Hwange Power Station through the Unit 7 and 8 Expansion Project.
This project was implemented at a cost of US$48.1 million having been availed through cooperation between the Governments of Zimbabwe and India via the Indian Exim Bank.
</blockquote>
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Pindula News

A new 42km pipeline was built in Zimbabwe to bring water to the Hwange Power Station. The project cost $48.1 million and was funded by a bank from India. This pipeline will help provide water for the power station and the local Deka community. The project was officially launched by President Mnangagwa and handed over to the Zimbabwean government by a delegation from India. The pipeline will support the expansion of the Hwange Power Station to generate more electricity. This is an important project for Zimbabwe to increase its power supply.

42km Deka Pipeline Commissioned

President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of the US$48.1 million water pipeline which will supply water to Hwange Power Station from Zambezi River.
The ceremony was held just outside Hwange town, off Deka Road, where the digging of the trench for the pipeline has commenced.
The new pipeline will run parallel to the existing one used by ZESA Holdings to supply water to the power station and the Hwange community.
The whole project involves the construction of a 962mm, 42km-long pipeline from Deka on the Zambezi River and upgrading the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) pump station.
Additionally, three outlets will be created along the way to supply communities in Makwa, Mashala and Chachachunda with potable water.
The project is expected to create more than 300 jobs for the locals.
The pipeline will increase the water supply to the power station from the current 3 500 cubic metres to 6 000 cubic metres per hour.
<img alt="Image" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOHzuDAX0AMeBrY?format=jpg&amp;name=medium"/>
The project is expected to be completed in March 2023, in time for the commissioning of the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) Unit 8 expansion.
The completion of the pipeline will guarantee enough water for the expanded power station after the completion of Unit 7 and 8 projects.
<h4>More: <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/construction-of-key-water-pipeline-for-hwange-power-begins/">The Herald</a></h4>

Construction Of US$48 Million Water Pipeline For Hwange Power Station Commences

A Victoria Falls magistrate has acquitted a fish poacher who was shot and injured by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) rangers in Hwange.
The rangers claimed that Claudius Mhlanga (47) tried to attack them with a kitchen knife during the encounter which occurred on 12 September along the Deka River in the Siankali area.
Victoria Falls resident magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa acquitted Mhlanga this week after a full trial with the court ruling that the two Zimparks rangers that testified gave contradictory accounts of the incident.
In the first count, he was accused of unlawfully using fishing nets and fishing rods to catch fish without a permit.
The second charge related to accusations that he charged towards one of the rangers, Prosper Muleya, who was armed with an AK47 rifle, with a kitchen knife intending to stab him and the third charge was for possession of 50 grammes of cyanide poison.
During cross-examination by Prosecutor Arthur Chindedza, Muleya and his colleague were quizzed about how Mhlanga was shot and the circumstances leading to the discovery of the cyanide.
In her ruling, Maphosa said the state witnesses failed to give consistent accounts of what transpired during Mhlanga’s arrest. Said Maphosa:
<blockquote>
The evidence led by the state with regards to count two is incredible and cannot be believed by this court.
The description of the two state witnesses that one man armed with a kitchen knife was advancing towards one of them to attack could actually qualify as an episode in an extremely fictitious movie or a comedy.
The evidence of the state witness in this regard is not true and inconsistent with the injuries sustained by the accused.
The accused’s version is reasonably possible when he says he tried to run, but he was shot when he tried to stop as he was shivering, he lifted his hands in surrender.
I find it that at no point did the accused resist arrest and if he had been advancing with a knife in his right hand then the injury would definitely not be at the back of the hand protruding to the palm.
There are consistent descriptions of the accused, which say he was surrendering with his hands up and was shot from behind and the bullet perforated to the inside, therefore, that charge falls away.
</blockquote>
On possession of cyanide, Maphosa said she believed Mhlanga’s account.
Mhlanga had denied possessing cyanide, arguing the poison was planted in his bag by the rangers as he was only shown the substance at the Matetsi police base after he threatened to sue. The magistrate ruled:
<blockquote>
I will believe the version by the accused person, which need not be true but reasonably true because the first witness in this evidence seemed to want to distance himself from answering until the prosecutor had to stop him from his meandering answer.
This court confidently proves that the state cannot prove this charge beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore, the accused is found not guilty and acquitted.
</blockquote>
Mhlanga was, however, found guilty in the first count and he was handed a fine of $10 000 or three months imprisonment if he does not pay by November 1.
The other three months were set aside for five years on the condition that he does not commit any similar offence.
Maphosa ordered that Mhlanga must be given back his knife while the fish and cyanide were forfeited to the state.
<h4>More: <a href="https://vicfallslive.co.zw/index.php/2021/10/16/rangers-shoot-hwange-fish-poacher-claim-he-tried-to-stab-them/">VicFallsLive</a></h4>

Rangers Shoot Fish Poacher, Plant Cyanide In His Backpack

Two people died while two others escaped after a vehicle they were travelling in fell off the Deka River bridge along the dilapidated Deka road which connects Hwange to Msuna on the Zambezi River on Tuesday evening.
The owner of the car, Mike Ndlovu and a woman only identified as Fatima died on the spot while Xolisani, a friend to Ndlovu who was the driver, and another passenger survived.
The Toyota Chaser reportedly developed a mechanical fault while approaching the bridge, resulting in the driver failing to control it.
It is not yet clear how the survivors escaped before swimming out of the water leaving the deceased trapped.
Police retrieved the body of Ndlovu and Fatima on Wednesday.
A village head Godfrey Dube appealed to authorities to urgently rehabilitate the road and the bridge across the Deka River which is now a death trap. Dube told NewZimbabwe.com:
<blockquote>I was at the scene when the bodies were retrieved. It was a male and a female. The road and bridge were temporarily closed as the search for the bodies were conducted until they were retrieved from underneath the water.
This road is bad, companies have destroyed it completely and now driving along the road damages vehicles and at the same time puts people’s lives in danger. It is now a death trap.</blockquote>
Last year, two people died at the same bridge after a vehicle they were travelling in veered off the road and fell into a ditch near the bridge after hitting a pothole.
<h4>More: <a href="https://www.newzimbabwe.com/two-passengers-drown-after-vehicle-falls-off-hwange-bridge/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">NewZimbabwe.com</a></h4>

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