Dar es Salaam, 2nd May, 2017– The Zambezi Watercourse Commission is this week holding Inception Meetings for two of its major projects – the Strategic Plan for the Zambezi Watercourse (ZSP) and the Zambezi Water Resources Information System (ZAMWIS) Decision Support System (DSS).
The meetings from 2 to 5 May, 2017, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania are being attended by ZAMCOM’s members of the Joint Project Steering Committee (JSPC) who are expected to review and approve the projects’ inception reports.
The JSPC was constituted in December 2016 by the ZAMCOM Technical Committee (ZAMTEC). It is a ZAMTEC sub-committee mandated to oversee technical implementation of projects and clearing major outputs and processes for ZAMTEC’s consideration and/or approval. JSPC members are representatives nominated by each of the eight Zambezi Riparian States.
ZAMCOM engaged two consulting companies; one to develop the Strategic Plan for the Zambezi Watercourse and another to carry out the ZAMWIS DSS Enhancement 3 Project following the completion of ZAMWIS Enhancement 2 in 2016.
The Strategic Plan for the Zambezi Watercourse is ZAMCOM’s major activity. Rooted in the Integrated Water Resources Management Strategy and Implementation Plan for the Zambezi River Basin (ZAMSTRAT) developed in 2008, the plan is expected to identify, categorise and prioritise projects and programmes for the efficient management and sustainable development of the Zambezi Watercourse.
Enhancement of ZAMWIS is another of ZAMCOM’s important activities. Its aim is to support the decision-making and planning processes in the basin for the benefit of human and economic development.
The core platform and database for ZAMWIS consisting of a spatial portal comprising GIS and earth observation data was developed between 2014 and 2016 under the ZAMWIS Enhancement 2 Project and it is on this that the current ZAMWIS-DSS will build on.