By Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge— Soon after independence, the Government undertook to develop all areas that were previously viewed as remote by successive settler regimes.
Very few people would remember when the then Beitbridge growth point was granted town status, as most were fast to dismiss it as an underdeveloped rural outpost.
However, in July 2006 the Government through the National Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP), then co-ordinated by Vice president Joice Mujuru sought to give this place a new face.
The resultant massive civil works programme seeks to facelift the once neglected growth point into a medium city. It is in this regard that President Mugabe officially launched the Beitbridge redevelopment exercise saying the Government wanted to turn it into a modern medium city.
The ministries of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development and that of Public Works were thus tasked by Cabinet to oversee the implementation of the project.
Under the programme, 16 blocks of flats to house 64 families mainly middle class civil servants, 250 core houses that would be for home ownership, 52 F14 houses for civil servants, road dualisation, upgrading water supply and sewer infrastructure in the town.
Furthermore, there is also the construction of other institutional facilities, namely a hospital, a primary school, a secondary school, civic centre, government composite office block, modern truck inn, shopping complex, a five-star hotel, an aerodrome and the upgrading of the current border post to meet world class standards.
This ambitious project has raised hope among Beitbridge residents and other people across the country and the continent. Two-thirds of these projects are nearing completion, while others have been completed and some are at various stages of construction.
In light of this development, the Government granted the border post town status in April 2006. According to the 2002 population census, the town had a population of 22 387 and an estimated 2 570 houses in formal settlements (primarily for government officials and mid-level private sector staff) and 3 000 in informal settlements.
This number has since increased due to the town's proximity to South Africa and its status as one of the busiest ports of entry in Sub Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the population started increasing following the construction of the Alfred Beit-Bridge in 1929 and the New Limpopo Bridge in 1995. Beitbridge town is frequented by people from many countries, with at least 25 000 of them passing through it daily.
Nearly 4 000 heavy trucks also use the border post every day. In a bid to speed up the redevelopment exercise, the Ministry of Local Government then appointed a six member commission to oversee and run the project on July 6, 2006.
The Commission's mandate included the de-linking of the urban and rural set ups and the sharing of assets, the delimitation of urban and rural boundaries and identifying capital projects for the border town. It was also to come up with an administrative structure and to work with the rural district council in addressing other cross-cutting issues. Their tenure expired in 2008 when a new town council headed by Dr Sipho Singo was put in place.
Former Beitbridge Commission secretary Mr Mandla Donga said the project was progressing at a snail's pace due to the resource constraints, but was quick to point out that the government was still committed to the project.
"The Government has still the zeal to complete the project and you will realise that a lot of strides have been made towards achieving a total uplift of the town from its former being. At the moment we do not have enough money to steer the project, but we have undertaken to implement it until its completion.
"This programme has raised hopes among citizens across the country and to that effect we will not abandon the project.
"A lot of civil works are underway and those are being constructed on priority basis-especially on the housing of civil servants, a state of the art truck inn and a hotel and government composite complex.
"The progress might be slow, but we are still in line with towards its completion. Since we kick-started in 2006 a lot of face-lifting of the town have been done people can see for themselves.
"Most roads have been tarred while others were resurfaced and furthermore the local authority is also working under that same town redevelopment framework crafted under the NEDPP", he said.
Mr Donga added that the expansion and re-organisation of Beitbridge will help boost tourism and the country's image saying that the town was a preface of the Zimbabwe to people coming in through South Africa. He said, had resources been readily available most of the civil works could have been completed by the end of last year.
It is understood the government would need US$10 732 200 to complete the out-standing civil works. In a recent interview, Mrs Theresa Makone who had been overseeing the programme early this year before being moved from the Ministry of Public Works to that of Home Affairs, said the money would be used to cover civil works such as roads, water and sewer reticulation.
"A financial allocation of US$175 000,00 was made by the treasury in October 2009 and was used to make the 52 F14 houses habitable. "To date we have managed to complete 24 by F14 houses, which are connected to temporary septic tanks and are now ready for occupation.
"A further 28 by F14 houses are between 70 percent and 90 percent complete and all the necessary items such as plumbing, sewer, painting and water reticulation are in progress," she said.
She added that the ministry of public works was also allocated US$450 000 in the fiscal budget last year and they expected the bulk of it to be used on housing projects
Beitbridge Town Secretary, Dr Sipho Singo said the local authority was incapacitated in terms of implementing some of its capital projects hence the need to bring other players on board.
He said they were facing a host of challenges in areas of water sanitation, sewer reticulation, solid waste management and providing adequate accommodation.
"We are just a small town council which is incapacitated -- the only way we can succeed in improving service delivery is through public private partnership. We want to adopt a multi-stakeholders approach in developing the town into a medium modern city.
"You will realise that we have luminaries in the cities, towns and foreign land and we want them to realise that Beitbridge is their home and that is where they need to put their money.
"At the moment we have struck a deal with Zimre who are going to put up flats around the town as we move in to ease accommodation problems. So far we have completed surveying over 8 000 residential stands and are still negotiating with other companies to service the land. We expect work to commence early next year" he said.
Dr Singo added that the local authority had completed the survey of 600 high density and 2 000 low density residential stands saying they would need investors to service that land. He said the newly formed Beitbridge Town Council was still finding its feet since the border post was granted town status in April 2006.
Hew added that there were a lot of opportunities in the fields of provision of accommodation, light industries, manufacturing, warehousing, and the upgrading of the sewer and water reticulation facilities among other things.
Dr Singo said some investors could also take advantage of the availability of the Export Processing Zone in the town and establish their industries.
"As the town council we have a public private partnership concept which has since been embraced by the Government and we are committed to fostering development in our area," he said.
He also called on private players and the business communities to join hands with the local authority in championing development in areas such as the road network, refuse collection, street lighting and the construction of a fire station. Beitbridge town has no fire station and relies on the service of the one in Musina, South Africa in cases of emergency.
He said they were still negotiating with two other NGOs which wanted to construct the new main bus terminus (Dulibadzimu). The current rank is in a low lying area which is water logged during much of the rainy season. Dr Singo said plans to move out truck ports from the CBD area were at an advanced stage
"We are still negotiating with other investors who want to establish a massive brick moulding plant and others who want to venture into other sectors," he said.
Beitbridge East House of Assembly Member Cde Kembo Mohadi who is also the Home Affairs co-Minister is on record saying the Redevelopment programme was still on the right track as the Government was in the midst of mobilising resources to fulfil their mission.
Only time will tell when this project will be fully implemented though many people feel it is the only way the town can be face-lifted.
Published by The Herald 7 September 2010
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