Rising water levels on Lake Tanganyika worries MP as he calls for financial support to relocate affected.
By Hellen Bwalya
Mpulungu Member of Parliament (MP) Leonard Mbao has appealed for financial support from government to help relocate the people who are living on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, he said this is to avert the looming crisis of flooding following the continued rising water levels on Lake Tanganyika.
Mr Mbao who is also Northern Province Minister, said communities and companies along the lakeshore are slowly being displaced following unprecedented water levels in the lake. Mr Mbao who visited his constituency, undertook an on-the-spot check along the lakeshore to understand the prevailing challenge his community is faced with.
The parliamentarian said his constituency requires financial support to prevent a looming disaster from occurring. He said having toured the lake shore, there is a need for stakeholders to be proactive and not reactive, as this may lead to more serious challenges.
One of the affected companies, Pendulum Transport and Fisheries Limited, has shut down its power plant due to water logging. Pendulum Transport and Fisheries Limited General Manager Reginald Mfula told ZANIS in an interview in Mpulungu district that the plant that powers the cold room for storage of fish cannot run anymore due to flooding. He said the company is in a crisis and is putting measures in place to lift all the machinery to higher ground.
Meanwhile, Mpulungu District Fisheries and Livestock Coordinator Mpundu Ng’andwe explained that their offices, which are by the lake, will potentially be inhabitable soon as the water levels keep rising. Mr Ng’andwe said most of the water measuring gadgets are submerged in the lake and he disclosed that the water levels have currently risen to about 2.5 meters, a record high for records in a long time.
And Mpulungu Meteorological Officer Henry Chinoi said Northern Province records a rainfall average of about 1250mm. He explained that this year, the rainfall recorded stands at 1748mm as of 20th March 2024 against the usual rainfall average which the province records every year, he called for pro-activeness in averting possible emergencies.
ZANIS
