President Michael Sata who is on a State visit to neighboring Zimbabwe yesterday together with his counterpart Robert Mugabe witnessed the signing of the MoU on co-operation to jointly construct a US$4 billion 1,650 megawatt hydro-power station at the Batoka Gorge.
The two Memorandums of Understanding signed were of Co-operation in Tourism and Youth Development.
Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi and Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere signed on behalf of Zimbabwe while Zambian Foreign Affairs and Tourism Minister Given Lubinda signed on behalf of Zambia.
And Zimbabwe’s Herald Newspaper reports that speaking during a state banquette held in honour of President Sata, President Mugabe pledged Zimbabwe’s commitment to working with its Zambian counterparts in efforts to chart a successful future for the two countries.
President Mugabe described Zimbabwe and Zambia as Siamese twins, adding that the two countries are inseparable.
The Zimbabwean leader also hailed the signing of the MOU on co-operation to jointly construct a US$4 billion hydro-power station at Batoka Gorge, stating that such infrastructural projects are the enablers of real and sustainable economic development.
He said the project is as important to the two countries as it is to the whole Southern Africa region which is experiencing a critical power deficit.
And President Sata said Zambia and Zimbabwe’s relations, dating back to the pre-independence era, were founded on common traditions and cultural values.
He said Zambia could not celebrate its independence without the liberation of Zimbabwe.
Mr Sata said the signing of the two MoUs by the two governments would further enhance social and economic relations.
President Sata re-affirmed Zambia’s commitment to strengthening bilateral relations through increased economic co-operation in various areas, as identified by the Joint Permanent Commission of Co-operation.
The President Sata said since the two countries are landlocked, Zambia and Zimbabwe have made strides to make them land-linked through the Chirundu One-Stop-Border Post.
He said this had improved efforts towards trade facilitation particularly on the North-South Corridor and reducing costs on the route.
Mr Sata said the UNTWO General Assembly will shine the spotlight on Victoria Falls and Livingstone while showcasing the beauty and splendour of the Victoria Falls. President Sata said co-operation within the region was imperative.
[QFM]
Yaba verys Sad for Tonga’s they shall be displaced once more
Good move but has the Zimbabwean Govt settled the debt amounting to US70.8million it owes Zambia since 1987?
Mwatu manina nyika no bantu please bana ba chisi bala mana machu.spear the tonga’s they shall be displaced first you grab itezhi tezhi then yo want to flood batoka mwa ba jaya bama tonga
UKWA has behaved this time around!!!! Or he is doing auditions first before he goes on stage??
walipena
It is the usual calm before a storm! It will soon start thundering! Or may be just may the behaviour is dependent on the position of the moon!
does MUgabe have a future?…Mushota….tell us!!!
What about Vic Falls, how is it going to be affected.?
George
Batoka Gorge is downstream of the Victoria Fall bwana. Form one geography.
Yes Batoka Gorge is downstream but dams build up their reservoirs upstream of their dam walls. The question still stands: is the upstream build-up of water going to affect the gorges below Vic Falls such that the height of the falls will reduce? That is the longhand of what #George meant.
Just in case no one was paying attention.
“Experience all the might and glory of Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, where the mighty Zambezi River plunges into the Batoka Gorge.”
The MOUs are welcome but who is going to give us the money to construct the US$4 billion power project? No one wants to associate with Mugabe except you UKWA. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe still owes us Zambians about US$70 million. They are failing to settle it. How are they going to attend to $4 billion?
So, until Mugabe is out of power, those projects will be doomed.
Good questions bra!
how does our president feel comfortable with this man who has caused so much trouble in his country? if it is business only and not picking on his brains on governance no problems. But if he is going there to get ideas, then we are in maningi trouble.
Way to go Ukwa!!!!! we will praise you when you do good and we will criticism when you do wrong. This is a good project that will benefit all Zambians of all races, tribe and creed. Well done H.E.
@zed poor people, Robert is Michael,s role model. Pf was supposed to have been mmd-pf. But kafupi stopped it. Just wait for people to start been hacked in Zambia. After all chawama was just a practice run.
When ‘dictators’ meet around table for discussions, what do they talk about? In particular if one of them has managed to turn a onces prosperous nation, the african bread basket, into sham of a country. Zim citizens are now considered a nuisance in every country they go to! Hope Bob is not giving lessons to his protege. Just think loudly. By the way, Ukwa and Bob, you did not tell us who’s funding the $4Billion project – indeed this would be a very welcome project if does go ahead
Wow Zambia is beautiful????, what a lovely place, ZAMBIANS IN DIASPORA?? PLEASE LET US HELP ZTB, MARKET OUR COUNTRY IT IS SUCH A WONDERFUL PLACE. HEAVEN ON EARTH and we are the most regarded as safest, most stable Country in AFRICA, thanks to our Leaders WHO step down peacefully whenever they lose Elections. GOD BLESS ZAMBIA, NO WAR SHALL COME TO OUR LAND. AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks mr. president…people who say president Sata is a dictator r forgetting that its the MMD who were turning into dictators! how many people cried, complained, filed police reports about injustices from foreign nationals & police brutality but all this was ignored! a Boer had more rights in Zambia than a Zambia during the MMD & so did the Chinese…but now, personally, i’m so relieved & i feel safer coz now i can complain about anything & i would be sure ZNBC will air it!…talk about freedom of expression!
And i thought it was only western govt.s that make deals with illegal governments?! The PF govt is 100% legal, voted by the of Zambian people themselves…Mugabe on the other hand runs an illegal establishment-which Sata himself knows very well…its a good project, but we have just gone to bed with the devil himself…in my humble opinion…this might cause problems in the very near future…
@13, its not MMD. MMD is gone and rotten. Its the frustrated tongas in the making of UPND who are sinking but have no eyes to see.
#15@chief kaponya
What have Tongas done to you?You hate them because their land is abundantly blessed.Get a life man.You are a negro regardless of your tribe.You stay in the USA and you better know that you are African.Am Proudly Tonga,Proudly Zambian,Proudly African,Proudly Human.For once please give Tongas a break
Whats up man…am sure that is not meant for me!
Where is Zim going to get such money. I hate this govt that is busy making contributions to other govt when their people are dying. Zimbabwean Govt still owes Zambia an amount of US70.8million since 1987. MMD refused to sign this agreement but UKWA has gone ahead.
I hope no minister is going to say that this MOU is null and void – you know how this govt works. Where is the 4billion dollars going to come from and what will be the environmental impact of such a project. I would have thought that African govts would want to look at the vast untapped potential of solar power to address their energy needs as well as preserving the integrity of such a valuable resource as mosi oa tunya.
Thanks thos very importsnt for the nation
And the project funding is from ………………….China?
SATA DISCOVERED USD $1 TRILLION ZAMBIAN PENSIONS FUNDS LYING IDLE IN UK BANK. ACTUALLY RB WANTED TO STEAL IT THROUGH HIS SONS. LET HIM USE IT WISELY FOR THE ZAMBIAN PIPO OTHERWISE ITS YOUR LAST CHANCE. LET HIM ALSO PAY BACK BAROTSE DEBT.
1,650 megawatt of power, this here my dear friends; will end all that load shedding you are currently experiencing, instead of applauding all you bitter frustrated impotent bloggers can do is rant and squeak annoyingly like a trapped rodent about utter drivel.
Keep up the good work Mr. President, you have my vote!
Dont worry both of them will soon be out of power
No. 16 @ chief kaponya
Give us a break, please!!!
If u dnt have anything to contribute,jst kip quiet u morons.By the way,who is ukwa?Some nicknames are boring and they dnt even suit.U jst look foolish and stupid calling HEMCS that name.Its not even fuuny.Those are dry jokes from under5 and his bunch of losers.
Tongas will never say anything good about SATA.They live a miserable life seeing SATA in plot1.Shame,what a sad life.We will never a tonga to rule Zambia no matter wahat! After PF in 2046,We will vote for Elias Chipimo.Under5 pls open your eyes and see the reality.
Thank God they is not enough of you to stop Tongas. Kolwestans will be isolated very soon. By the end of Sata’s first term, the whole world will know how inept and corrupt Bembas are and nobody will want Kolwestans in power ever more. It you Kolwestans who will be Isolated and will never come back after Satan is through with the damage that he has began.
Busy week. I wonder how the London meetings are going. When are you going to update us on the progress of the VP as the bankers flock around :) Is this an advance party for the boss? Running a little behind the curve at the moment but that’s not necessarily a drag :)
I thought the word “diaspora” means Africans living abroad because one rarely hears of whites or Asians living in the diaspora. It is like it is a status symbol to live in the diaspora. The African diaspora feels superior to the” natives” it left behind in its search of greener pasture and takes offence when talked down to. The African diaspora of today is purely based on economic survival . I have since found out that diaspora, is of Greek origin and refers to the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland. It refers to historical mass-dispersions of people with common roots, particularly movements of an involuntary nature, such as the expulsion of Jews from the Middle East, and the African Trans-Atlantic slave trade,
Well, at least you looked it up, thus you can now see, it isn’t just poor Africans that move.
1. The Batoka Gorge Hydropower project is not a new scheme. It was conceived in the Chiluba era in the 90’s and feasibility studies were done. 2. There will be no displacement of people because it is a run-of-the river scheme meaning power will be generated as the water flows with no storage reservoir. The small reservoir will be confined within the gorge. However this dam will be higher than Kariba dam by about 50m. 3.The dam height will be designed such that the reservoir level is below the foot of the Falls. However there will be no white water rafting. Will this compromise the Falls as a world Heritage Site?
Do you know of any conceptual drawings?
Better to keep quiet if you don’t know what you are talking about. Remain in retirement and stop embarrassing yourself.
What’s this idea of signing important agreements with the likes of Mugabe?Botswana would have been a better option not Zimbos please.
It’s good there are other tribes apart from Tongas, Lozis and Bembas. These tribes needed to go through the ‘Rwanda’ or the Bosnia/Sarajevo avenues for them to stop their silly hate of each other: a taught habit which they are not born with. Very retrogressive!
Generally the project appears to be good as it might benefit future generations long after Sata and Mugabe are no longer our leaders. With USD$3 trillion in reserves, China looks more likely to fund such a project.
Excellent!!!….. African leaders have started thinking. Well done Zim_Zam.
Kavundula. The adage that if you argue with a fool you will also look a fool is very true. But I will still go ahead and argue with you. If the Batoka Gorge is upstream of the Victoria Falls then there would have been no problem. The problem is there because the Batoka Gorge is downstream of the Falls. The fear is that this dam if it is high enough can drown the Victoria Falls. Obviously with the knowledge of people like you I should come out of retirement.
No fool would fund approve a project that would do that naimwe abwana.
Guys, whether we like it or not, Sata he has booked a place in history books or he is our president, if we rely need our country to develop let us be positive thinkers, not just saddest,
Let us work with Sata as partners, when we disagree let us give solution to what we think is right.
Zim must first back the $70 million they owe us. They’ ve never wanted to pay it back until they needed something again from us – this time the Batoka hydro scheme. You can’t trust these chaps.
This is very good project and Zambia should aim to become a major power pool for southern and central Africa, looking at the fact we have large percentage of water in SADC region. For those who are condemning Sata for signing MOU with Mugabe, note that we share most of Zambezi river with Zimbabwe and the identified site for the project is near Zimbabwe. So Sata had no choice but to sleep with the devil himself for betterment of Zambia. Moreover, Mugabe wont last the next 10 yrs, so should we deny our future generation development just because of Mugabe
@29 Senior Engineers RTD, Word Diaspora would not really mean people to think they are superior?? As you illustrated, it is a citizen migrant abroad, which sometimes would not mean greener Pasture. It can be very Brown in some situations. In terms of Help, they can manage that by talking good / marketing of our country as we cannot leave this to the Government alone. Especially for a country like Zambia with very limited Budget on Tourism. Good Note on the WORD. DIASPORA. With this regard, Superior Zambians IN DIASPORA?? Market your Country. It is your HOME SWEET HOME.
Zimbabwe need to pay us our money before we can cooperate with them on this project. They need it much more than we do, so the burden is on them to move forward. Although they are our brother, they have a deep seated prejudice against Zambians. So the ball is in their court to get this wonderful project rolling. With our good better name with borrowers, we can prioritise Kafue Lower Gorge, Luapula and the Kabompo hydropower projects. The environmental impact also needs to be reviewed bearing in mind the damage that was caused by the Kariba dam
#GEORGE has a point. Yes Batoka Gorge is downstream of Vic Falls but dams build up their reservoirs upstream of their dam walls. The question still stands: is the upstream build-up of water going to affect the gorges below Vic Falls such that the height of the falls will reduce? That is the longhand of what #George is asking.
Cooperating with Zimbabweans is a disaster. These selfish and pompous people should be avoided. Zambia should instead develop power stations that we solely control, like Kafue Lower and all the other inland sites. Zimbabwe have been foiling the construction of the Kazungula bridge for a long time now. And they have not paid us our money back from the construction of Kariba Dam. If we are not careful, Zambia and Zimbabwe will one day go to war over the Zambezi River water rights.
Great ideas. Thanks! I love having new things to write about and you??ve given me a great list.
Pat,You are right ?C definitely a post to bookmark. It??s now saved on my home computer and my iPad. Kim, thanks for the awesome ideas. Can??t wait to implement a few them next time I??m staring at the computer screen.
I all the time used to study article in news papers but now as I am a user of web so from now I am using net
for posts, thanks to web.
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