1 000 stands released

Beitbridge Bureau
Beitbridge Town Council has allocated 1 000 residential stands to the community as the local authority seeks to ease accommodation woes that have perennially dogged the town.Town Secretary Dr Sipho Singo said in an interview yesterday that council would also allocate another 3 000 stands before end of this year.

He said the development was part of the council’s five-year vision of clearing the housing backlog which stands at 10 000. He said the target was to reduce the housing waiting list by 50 percent in two years. Beitbridge town has a population of 40 000 and about 4 000 houses but the population has of late been increasing rapidly due to the town’s proximity to South Africa and its economic activity as the busiest inland port in southern Africa.

Dr Singo said the servicing of stands had been completed and they were only awaiting water connections which he said would be done as soon as construction of the new water treatment plant was completed by the end of this year.

The Government through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority is constructing an US$11 million water treatment plant that is expected to ease the town’s water shortages. The town requires at least 15 000 cubic metres of water per day but Zinwa is only pumping a third.