The Governments of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Malawi are jointly implementing Songwe River Basin Development Programme - Detailed Design and Investment Preparation Project, through grant financing from the African Water Facility (AWF) (Grants Nos. 5600155002301 and 5600155002302; and New Partnership for Africa’s Development – Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (NEPAD-IPPF) Grant No. 5150155000008, with the African Development Bank acting as Trustee for the AWF Special Fund; and the Governments of Tanzania and Malawi. The project is being implementing in accordance with Project Appraisal Report of February 2010, Grant Agreement between The Governments of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Malawi, and the African Development Bank, of 4th May 2011; and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between The Republic of Malawi and The United Republic of Tanzania of 8th March 2011.
The project area is the Songwe River Basin which has an area of about 4,200 square kilometers, the area of which covers parts of Chitipa and Karonga Districts in Malawi; Kyela, Ileje, Mbozi and Mbeya Districts in Tanzania. The project has its headquarters at Kyela town, Tanzania.
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to economic growth, reduced poverty, improved health, better living conditions, and enhanced food and energy security for the people in the Songwe Basin as well as economic development of the two countries.
Its objectives are to assist the two countries creating a long-term strategic framework, investment plans, and enabling environment for basin-wide socio-economic development based on joint management of the shared waters.
The basin offers such opportunities as agricultural development; hydropower; fisheries; water supply and sanitation, and recreation. The economy of the basin highly depends on water related sectors, whose issues and problems need to be addressed through integrated trans-boundary water resources management and development.
Some of the main problems and challenges facing the basin that will be addressed by the Project include the following:
(i) Frequent shifting of the international border between the two countries in the river delta zone due to the random meandering of the river, that can be alleviated by flood control and river course stabilization investments;
(ii) Frequent flooding in the lower basin;
(iii) Unstable access to fish resources that can potentially be mitigated by fish farming;
(iv) Deforestation, bush burning, and unsuitable cultivation practices in the upper reaches of the river causing erosion and increased sediment transport;
(v) Untapped agriculture production potential due to unregulated river flow with large flow fluctuation in terms of floods and droughts;
(vi) A considerable part of the Basin Population is lacking access to safe water supply;
(vii) Considerable unused hydropower development potential that could contribute to economic growth and alleviation of the severe electricity shortages facing the two countries.
The Project is structured in five Components: (i) Preparation of a Shared Vision towards 2050 and a 10-year Songwe River Basin Development Programme (SRBDP); (ii) Detailed design and preparation for priority investment projects; (iii) Environmental and social safeguarding of the SRBDP by means of a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment, and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the Programme; (iv) Development of a Joint River Basin Commission and associated integrated water resources management (IWRM) capacity building at local and national level; and (v) Support to Project management and resource mobilisation for the implementation of capital investments under the programme.
The overall duration of the Project is 32 months from grant agreement signature. Its total costs are estimated to be about EUR 5,779,515, to be financed by the Government of The Republic of Malawi and the Government of The United Republic of Tanzania, the African Water Facility (AWF), and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development – Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (NEPAD-IPPF).
This is to inform all stakeholders of the Songwe River Basin and the General Public that the two Governments will officially launch the project on Monday, 16th July 2012 at Kyela, Tanzania. The Ministry of Water of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Ministry of Water Development and Irrigation of the Republic of Malawi requests all stakeholders to participate in the implementation of the project by providing data and information that will be requested from time to time which will subsequently lead to achieving the project objectives.
Christopher Sayi
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Water
The United Republic of Tanzania
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