Chinhoyi constructs school, 197 houses

Blessings Chidakwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Chinhoyi Municipality is on the verge of completing the construction of its first secondary school in Ruvimbo suburb as the local authority pushes ahead with delivering on quick-win projects under Government’s 100-day plan.

The school will be officially opened next month. Its completion is expected to ease the burden on pupils who were forced to walk for 15km to 20km daily to access the nearest school.Municipal spokesman Mr Tichaona Mlauzi said construction of the school was now at an advanced stage.

“As part of Rapid Results Approach initiative, we decided to construct a secondary school in Ruvimbo Phase 1.

“As councils, we are only mandated to construct primary schools, but in this case we realised that the there was a huge gap which needed immediate attention considering that for every 500 households there should be a school.” Mr Mlauzi added: “In this case there are two primary schools in the area without a single secondary school.

“We are constructing two classroom blocks, an administration and ablution facility block which we are going to hand over to the School Development Committee for further development initiatives.” Council, he said, was using its own funds to construct the school, which will be called Ruvimbo Secondary School.

The municipality constructed Ruvimbo Primary School two years ago. They also completed Rujeko Primary School in the same period. Mlauzi said council had partnered local banks to construct at least 200 houses within the 100-day period.

“We have engaged into Public-Private Partnerships with Metbank and National Building Society for the construction of housing units targeting low-income earners,” he said.

“Both firms have contracted companies that are already on the ground. Metbank, as part of the deal, is set to complete 200 housing units within the RRA time frame.” An official from Accenture Properties — which has been contracted by Metbank — said the set target was achievable.

“We are set to build at least 197 housing units and as you can see, most of our houses are now above window level,” said the official.
“We are building two, three and four-bedroomed houses and by March, we are confident that we can surpass the set target.” The deal between Chinhoyi Municipality and the two banks has seen over 200 locals getting employed at the site.