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Government has said it is stepping up efforts to revive Bulawayo companies as it works toensure the city regains its status of being the country’s industrial hub. The city used to be the home of big textile, engineering, shoe manufacturing, beef processing, transport, iron and steel as well as food manufacturing companies.
Some of the companies closed while others relocated to Harare and other towns mainly due to the city’s perennial water shortages.
In a bid to conserve the city’s limited water supplies, council subjected companies and residents to water rationing and as such companies were made to pay hefty fines for exceeding their monthly allocations and this forced some of them to relocate to other cities and towns to avoid paying more for water.
It was a common joke in the past that in Bulawayo companies pay more for water compared to water they pay for fuel. Since the coming in of the Second Republic, measures have been taken to improve the city’s water supplies and these include the drilling of boreholes at Nyamandlovu Aquifer.
The long term solution is the construction of Lake Gwayi-Shangani and the pipeline that will bring the water to Bulawayo. The construction of the Lake is about 70 percent complete and work on the pipeline is at an advanced stage.
President Mnangagwa told Bulawayo residents on Wednesday that Government is stepping up efforts to revive Bulawayo companies and a number of programmes are already being implemented to assist companies to retool.
Addressing thousands of residents at the ruling party’s star rally in Cowdray Park suburb, President Mnangagwa said Government was working on ensuring the city regains its status of being the country’s industrial hub. He said the strategies being worked on include ensuring that the city has adequate water supplies as well as electricity.
Government reported early this year that a total of 13 companies across the country were back in production taking advantage of the improved ease of doing business environment and some of these companies are in Bulawayo. Companies such as Zambezi Tanners and Ref Air that are in the City of Kings, have retooled and are back in full production thereby reviving the city’s hopes to reclaim its status as the country’s industrial hub.
The ongoing programme to revive distressed companies and Government’s initiatives to attract new investors has seen 80 percent of the products on retail shelves being produced locally. The new investors that are setting up businesses across the country since the coming in of the Second Republic, have confirmed that indeed Zimbabwe is Open for Business.
The country is in fact fast becoming an investment destination of choice in the region and beyond as evidenced by the many new companies that are investing millions of dollars in sectors such as mining.
We want to appeal to companies that relocated to other towns due to water shortages in Bulawayo to return to the city as they are now guaranteed adequate water supplies for many years to come.
Online Reporter