adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
THE Beitbridge Rural District council has started allocating 400 residential stands as it moves to ease accommodation challenges which have become perennial in the border town. Mr Albert Mbedzi, the council’s chief executive officer, said the stands were located at Lutumba business centre, some 20km along the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway.
He said they had already surveyed the land which will be serviced with roads and water.
“We have started allocating the medium-density stands on a cost recovery basis and we are happy with the uptake.
“The cost of servicing the stands is relatively cheap since we will be using septic tanks and water reticulated from the boreholes we are drilling,” he said.
Mr Mbedzi said the allocation of the stands was done in line with the Government’s housing for all scheme.
He said they were expecting the area to be a hive of activity by the end of this year.
He added that the beneficiaries were selected from the housing waiting list.
Accommodation shortages have become a common problem in Beitbridge where some residents are shuttling from Lutumba growth point to town.
The town has a population of 42 218 and 11 959 households but the number of people is increasing each day due to economic activity and proximity to South Africa.
Mr Mbedzi said they had also started repairing major key roads across the district which have not been attended to in the last decade.
“Civil works are in progress on the Lesanth —Makombe, Chief Matibe, Beitbridge — Lukange and Bubi roads respectively.
“We had shelved the repairing of these roads due to unavailability of funds but now we are courting a number of development players to speed up the projects,” he said.
He added that the construction of the Mtetengwe Clinic was nearing completion after Beitbridge East constituency legislator Cde Kembo Mohadi, who is also Home Affairs Minister, mobilised funding from development partners.
“As a local authority we are open to private public partnerships to carry out some of our capital projects including the rehabilitation of Shashe Irrigation Scheme which was extensively damaged by a storm last month.
“We are also engaged in citrus production in the same area where we want to plant over 20 000 orange trees.
“So far we have 13 000 and expect to complete the project by the end of this year,” said Mr Mbedzi.
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo