The construction of the long-awaited 252-kilometre Gwayi-Shangani-Bulawayo pipeline could take more than two centuries to complete if the government continues disbursing funds at the rate recorded last year, Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart has warned.
The mayor’s sentiments illustrate the scale of the financing gap facing the pipeline and the urgency of finding a sustainable funding mechanism if the broader Gwayi-Shangani scheme is to deliver its promised water security benefits.
Coltart raised this concern after reports that construction of the 10-megawatt Gwayi-Shangani mini-hydropower station in Matabeleland North is progressing, with civil works expected to be completed by the end of the year.
While welcoming progress on the power station, Coltart said the City of Bulawayo’s immediate interest was in the pipeline, which is intended to transport raw water from Gwayi-Shangani Dam to the city.
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“Wonderful news but from a City of Bulawayo perspective our real interest is in the construction of the 252 km pipeline,” Coltart said on X.
The mayor said the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) had recently published a report putting the pipeline’s cost at US$543 million, while questions remained about how the project would be financed.
“Last year the government spent some US$2,5 million on the pipeline. If that disbursement rate isn’t improved it will take 217 years to build the pipeline,” Coltart said.
The mayor’s calculation highlights the widening gap between the scale of investment required for the water transfer system and the funding made available to the project.
In July, CITE reported that the total value of the four major contract packages under the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP) had reached US$554.44 million, according to a project progress report dated 10 July 2026.
The contracts cover the pipeline, pump stations, water treatment plant and pipe supply, with the pipeline contract listed at US$175.14 million, pump stations at US$167.73 million, the treatment plant at US$81.25 million and pipe supply at US$130.33 million.
The funding challenge is particularly significant because progress on the dam itself has outpaced the infrastructure needed to move water to Bulawayo.
The 2026 Zimbabwe Infrastructure Investment Programme said US$25.3 million had been availed for construction of Gwayi-Shangani Dam during 2025, with the dam then reported to be 72.4 percent complete.
It projected completion of the dam in 2026, supported by a ZiG273 million allocation, however, the wider NMZWP has continued to face funding constraints.
According to the July progress report cited by CITE, the 252-kilometre pipeline remains at only 16 percent completion, while the booster pump stations were at 18 percent.
Read: https://cite.org.zw/gwayi-
Construction of the pipeline was awarded to 12 contractors in March 2022, with each contractor allocated approximately 21 kilometres, but work stalled in the same year because of inconsistent funding.
The pipeline is designed to deliver 220 megalitres of water per day to Bulawayo and forms the critical link between the dam and the city.
This means completing the dam alone will not resolve Bulawayo’s water problems unless sufficient funding is also secured for the pipeline, pumping infrastructure and water treatment facilities.
In the 2025 National Budget, the Treasury allocated ZiG1 billion to the Gwayi-Shangani project, including ZiG700 million for the dam and ZiG282 million for the Bulawayo pipeline.
This allocation is approximately US$38.7 million at the official RBZ interbank exchange rate applicable at the beginning of 2025.
For 2026, the government allocated ZiG273 million specifically to Gwayi-Shangani, equivalent to approximately US$10.7 million at the applicable official exchange rate at the time.
The 2026 infrastructure programme also listed ZiG30 million for the Gwayi-Shangani pipeline and another ZiG30 million for the booster pump station.
The government has previously sought to accelerate the project through monthly Treasury releases because in 2025, President Emmerson Mnangagwa directed the Treasury to release US$5 million a month towards strategic dam projects.
The Treasury subsequently reported that US$2.39 million had been channelled towards the Gwayi-Shangani pipeline, compared with US$25.3 million for the dam.
The latest project report stated approximately US$4 million a month was currently sufficient only to cater for the dam wall. It recommended increasing monthly funding to US$8 million to accommodate other components, including the mini-hydropower station and low-lift pumping stations.
The latest concern over pipeline financing comes as government reports progress on another component of the project, which is the 10MW mini-hydropower station.
Civil works at the power station are reportedly 75 percent complete, with completion expected by the end of the current reporting year. Installation of electro-mechanical equipment is expected to follow thereafter.
“With regard to the mini-hydro, we are currently at 75 percent completion. This is towards the civil works. We are looking at completing all the civil works within the current reporting year, with installation of electro-mechanicals to follow in the next reporting year,” Assistant Resident Engineer for the Gwayi-Shangani Lake Project, Engineer Joakim Banda, was quoted as saying.
The mini-hydro station is one of the ancillary components of the broader Gwayi-Shangani Lake development, which is part of the government’s wider dam construction programme.
The Gwayi-Shangani project itself has a long history, with the broader NMZWP first mooted more than a century ago.
Once completed, the scheme is expected to provide a long-term source of water for Bulawayo while supporting irrigation, industrial development and wider water security across Matabeleland.
However the latest figures suggest the completion of the dam and its ancillary infrastructure do not necessarily mean water will immediately begin flowing to Bulawayo.
The pipeline, pumping stations and treatment plant remain major components requiring hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.
The July progress report also identified other challenges, including the poor condition of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, which has contributed to breakdowns of heavy vehicles transporting construction materials.
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