Chikowa dam in Mambwe district in Eastern Province which is supposed to benefit a lot of households and boost Social Economic Development in the area, is now a white elephant.
The 1.4 million United States dollar World Bank funded dam which is expected to hold more than 780, 000 cubic meters being under utilised.
The dam is now a white elephant, not serving its billed purpose, as there has been very little progress in shoring up the economic value of one of the country’s largest water body.
Commenting on the project some time ago, Permanent Secretary following an official visit to Mambwe district said the dam would be game changer in the residents’ lives, as harvested water would be used for irrigation conservation, livestock and fishing.
Dr Chomba also pointed out that the dam will also enable value chain and value addition to the community as his ministry intended to incorporate the department of commerce to ensure that households have an open market to sell their produce when it is ready.
He further noted that if the community utilises the dam well, they can be able to cultivate vegetables and tubers among other products at a large scale which they can supply to large supermarkets across the country, and reduce dependency on imported products.
On what river is the dam? Report fully please
No surprise here.