Corumana dam expansion: Resettlement to cost more than US$6.5 million

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Corumana dam expansion: Resettlement to cost more than US$6.5 million

12:21 CAT | 08 Dec 2017

civildesigner.com

The transfer of families and infrastructure affected by the Corumana Dam expansion project in Maputo province will cost US$6.5 million.

The amount, supplied by the World Bank, will cover the construction of at least 309 homes, a water supply network for those resettled, land replacement and compensations for non-residential structures and the restoration of means of livelihood.

The value will be spent on introducing electricity supply, constructing schools, compensations for lost crops and trees, the expansion of the Chavane Health Centre in the resettlement area, and monitoring the process.

According to the resettlement action plan discussed on Wednesday at the fourth public hearing meeting in Matola, the implementation of the programme will start in the first quarter of next year and will last for three months.

“The project area covers 1,500 families in five communities, which corresponds to 6,500 people. Of these, 206 families, two churches and an association of fishermen will be significantly affected,” the meeting detailed.

Four resettlement sites have been identified, in Chavane, Fungotine, Babtine and Ndindiza.

The expansion of the dam, which involves civil and hydro-mechanical works, including the installation of floodgates for water control, is expected to commence soon after the resettlement is completed, and is estimated at US$25.5 million.

Also Read: World Bank finances conclusion of Corumana dam in Maputo province, Mozambique

The families covered by the project are confident about the outcome of the process, actively participating in the choice of the resettlement area and the transfer of the graves from family cemeteries to a collective area.

“Before we knew what was going to happen, we were afraid, but now we think that everything is being done so that we can have better living conditions. Our livestock, the fields and the graves of our families are also included in this process,” Fernando Simango, a resident of the village of Ndindiza in Corumana, said.

The dam, built between 1983 and 1989 in the Mozambican district of Moamba in Maputo province, will get a floodgate which will increase storage capacity from the current 720 to 1,240 million cubic metres of water, part of which is destined to supply the Maputo metropolitan region.

Currently, water mains from the dam to the Machava Distributor Centre are being completed, and will reach 560,000 new consumers in areas of Maputo, Matola and Marracuene districts.

Corumana was identified as an alternative to supply Greater Maputo, once the capacity of the Pequenos Libombos Dam in Umbeluzi was exhausted, pressured by population growth and other uses.

Source: Notícias