Harare, February 13, 2012 - The dam wall on the Zimbabwean side on one of the world biggest dams, Kariba is weak and requires urgent repairs to prevent the wall from collapsing, Energy and Power Development Minister Elton Mangoma said Monday.

Mangoma who was presenting the state of the energy sector in the country to the Mines and Ernegy parlimentary portfolio committee said the Kariba dam wall on the Zimbabwean side needs to be anchored to prevent the wall from collapsing that might affect the dam and power generation.
 
"I repeat that the wall on the Zimbabwean side is weak and requires anchoring and this is being attended to.It is something that is high on the agenda because without the dam wall you really have nothing," Mangoma said.
 
The Kariba dam on the Zambezi River is one of the largest dams in the world, standing 128 m tall and 579 m long. The dam was built by Italians between 1955 and 1959 during the colonial time when Zimbabwe was still called Rhodesia. It borders with Zimbabwe's northern neighbour Zambia which also generates electricity on the dam.
 
At the time of the construction of the dam several people and animals were killed forcing authorities to embark on an "Operation Noah" aimed at saving thousands of animals while over 57 000 people were relocated to safer areas away from the flooding rising water.
 
Mangoma said his ministry is coordinating efforts to anchor the dam wall adding that power generation at Kariba Hydro power station at the moment has been between 735 Megawatts to 750 Megawatts.