Harare - Zimbabwe and Zambia have secured $275 million in loans and grants for urgent repairs to the gigantic power-generating Kariba Dam on the border between the two countries, says the World Bank.
The move comes after warnings earlier this year that cracks in the man-made wall standing 128m high could result in a disastrous collapse and flooding in four countries.
Raised the alarm
The European Union will provide the largest chunk of $100m, while the World Bank and the African Development Bank will each chip in with $75m in loans. Sweden is giving a $25m grant.
The repairs will cost $300m and the two countries will pay the difference, the bank says.
Kariba Dam is one of the world's largest, generating more than 1 300 megawatts of hydropower for the two countries.
Dam officials and the two governments early this year raised the alarm over the cracks in the wall, saying it needed to be repaired within three years to prevent it from collapsing.
World Bank representative Kundhavi Kadiresan described the repairs as "very important" to ensure the safety and reliability of the dam.
Not fixing dam
She said "very urgent action" was needed "to avoid a potential emergency situation that would have resulted in a devastating situation in the entire Zambezi river basin and loss of human life."
Should the dam wall collapse, flooding from the Zambezi River could hit parts of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, affecting millions of people.
Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa also cautioned on the dangers of not fixing the dam.
The dam, built in 1955, is situated in the Kariba gorge of the Zambezi River basin.