HARARE, (Xinhua) — Rehabilitation of the Kariba Dam wall is progressing well and work is 67 percent complete, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), a bi-national organization that manages the dam on behalf of the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe, said in an update Friday.
The US$294.2 million project, which consists of three components – the basin redesign, upstream spillway control facility renovation and institutional strengthening – is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.
Overall, the objective of the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project is to address dam safety issues and restore the dam’s structural integrity for its long-term reliability and operational safety, ZRA said.
Kariba Dam, shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia, is the world’s largest man-made dam with water storage capacity. It is an important resource that provides water for hydropower generation, which is a critical cog in the socio-economic development of the two countries.
The dam supplies water to Zambia’s 1,080 MW North Bank Power Station and Zimbabwe’s 1,050 MW South Bank Power Station, also known as Kariba Hydro Power Station. The two power stations have in recent years been upgraded by the Chinese company Sinohydro, which added 360 MW to the North Bank Power Station and 300 MW to the Kariba Power Station.
The rehabilitation project started in 2017 and is jointly financed by the World Bank, the European Union, the African Development Bank, the Swedish government and the Zambezi River Authority.
