By Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge 03 March 2011
Improving people’s quality of life and expanding opportunities to determine own destiny-higher incomes, better education, better health care, protected environment, gender equality freedom and security is every government’s top priority.
This has been the case with the government which soon after independence in the nearly 1980s undertook to develop all areas that were previously viewed as remote by the then colonial regime.
The transformations of social, economic, cultural and political structures in society are some of the key factors towards achieving effective development.
It is in this spirit that in July 2006 the government through the National Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP) then coordinated by Vice president Joice Mujuru sought to give Beitbridge town a facelift.
This massive civil works programme seeks to facelift the once neglected growth point into a medium city.
Very few people would remember when Beitbridge growth point was granted a town status, as most were fats to dismiss it as an under developed rural settlement.
It is in this effect that President Mugabe officially launched the Beitbridge Redevelopment exercise saying the government wanted to turn it into fully fledged modern medium city.
The ministries of Local Government and Urban Development and that of Public Works were thus tasked by the cabinet to oversee the implementation of the project.
Under the programme a total of 16 blocks of Flats to households of 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, primary school, secondary school, civic centre, government composite office block, modern truck inn, shopping complex, a 5 star hotel, an aerodrome and the upgrading of the current border post to meet world class standards.
This ambitious project has raised hope amongst the Beitbridge residents and other people across the country and the continent.
Two thirds of these projects are nearing completion, while other have been completed and some are at various stages of construction.
It is understood the government would need US$10 732 200 to complete the out-standing civil works.
Early last year the Ministry of public works was allocated total of US$450 000 in the fiscal budget last year and they expected the bulky of it to be used on housing projects
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 economic activity as one of the busiest ports of entry in Sub Saharan Africa.
Furthermore the population started increasing following the construction of the Alfred Beitbridge 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 to various destinations.
Nearly 4 000 heavy trucks also utilise the border post every day.
In a bid to speed up the redevelopment excise, the Ministry of Local Government then appointed a six member commission to oversee and run the project on 6 July 2006.
The Commission’s mandate included the delinking of the urban and rural set ups and the sharing of assets, the delimitation of urban and rural boundaries, identifying capital projects for the border town and 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.
Since then the town made tremendous growth in terms of infrastructure and service delivery with issues of intermittent water cuts and sewer burst becoming a thing of the past.
Residents have hailed the current council for a job well done and this has managed to cultivate a culture of expeditious payments for rates and services.
The World Bank has also availed $2, 3 million to the town council under the State Peace Building Fund (SBPF)-Beitbridge Emergency Water and Sanitation Project towards the upgrading and rehabilitation of water and sewer reticulation facilities to meet the needs of the ever growing population.
In a recent interview former Beitbridge Commission secretary Mr. Mandla Donga said the project was still on the right track to a complete transformation and 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 have no 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 them selves.
“Most roads have been tarred while others were resurfaced and the furthermore the local authority is also working under that same town redevelopment frame work 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.
Beitbridge Town Secretary, Dr Sipho Singo also echoed that same sentiments saying the local authority was incapacitated in terms of implementing some of its capital projects and hence the need to bring other players on board.
The town council has since unveiled a $9 million budget for 2011 which will see half of its revenue spent on capital projects aimed at transforming the border post into a medium modern town.
Dr Sipho Singo said they were going to spent $5million on capital projects while the remainder would be spent on administration and other service charges.
“Our interest is to regenerate the face of Beitbridge so that it is consistent of a modern urban set-up and hence we have come up with a development oriented budget that would see half of its being spent on capital projects.
“From last year we were concentrating on the clean up of the town such as de-bushing, removal of solid waste that had piled in most areas across the town, monitoring and controlling the sewer systems. The town was awash with blockages and sewer rivers. We are also glad that people are paying up their rates to finance our operations.
“A number of projects have been lined up with some of them already underway. The major focus will be on tarring of roads and the opening up of more access roads in the new suburbs, industrial sites and installation of traffic lights on seven points.
“You will realise that the volume of traffic has drastically increased in this town and hence we need to come up with proper traffic management systems.
“We are going to re-construct the Carinners intersection in the CBD which has become a nightmare to many motorists. At the moment we have completed a feasibility study with the assistance of engineers from the Ministry of Transport Communication and Infrastructure development.
“Furthermore we are going to rehabilitate the current Dulibadzimu clinic into a modern health centre. Soon after its completion we will arrange with our Musina counterparts that some of our special cases be transferred there which is a bit nearer than Gwanda and Bulawayo.
“Apart from that we have identified a site for the construction of a fire station near the Caltex garage which we expect to commence in February next year. We have made it a priority that in two years time the border town will have a different face” he said.
Dr Singo said they expected the largest chunk of their budget to be drawn from rates, leases and business licenses.
He said they would maintain their 2010 rates and charges saying they were consistent and affordable.
He added that they were facing a host of challenges in areas of water sanitation, sewer reticulation, and solid waste management and providing adequate accommodation.
“We are just a small town council which is in capacitated; 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 easy accommodation problems. So far we have completed surveying over 800 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 densities and 200 low density residential stands saying they would need investors to service that land.
He said the newly formed town council Beitbridge Town Council was still finding its feet since the border post was granted town status in April 2006 adding that they 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 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 the most rainy seasons.
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” said Dr Singo.
Beitbridge East Member of Parliament, Cde Kembo Mohadi who is also the Co-Home Affairs Minister is on record saying the Redevelopment programme was still on the right track as the government was in the midst of mobilizing resources to full-fill their mission.
It’s just a matter of time when this project will be fully implemented and start bearing fruit though many people feel it is the only way the town can be face-lifted and rebranded.
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