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THE Bulawayo City Council has given transport operators and vendors at Basch Street Terminus, also known as Egodini a reprieve to remain at the place until further notice while efforts are underway to relocate them.The council had given the close to 800 operators up to end of last month to vacate the site to pave way for the construction of the $56 million worth state-of the-art shopping mall.
Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo yesterday said business people operating at Egodini could stay until further notice.
“The vendors and transport operators got letters from the council, which gave them an ultimatum for 31 December. We have since extended the ultimatum indefinitely because the contractor is yet to sign the papers and start the project,” he told Chronicle. “The draft has been drawn but the contractor might probably want to come and negotiate for changes on certain terms before starting the project.
“On these grounds the vendors therefore can stay put until the contractor is ready to start the project.”
The construction of the shopping mall, which would be done by a South African civil engineering firm, Tearracota (Pvt) Ltd was billed to start this month.
However, Clr Moyo said the contractor would take time to bring equipment into the country and also get local labour for the project.
He said: “The council will do follow up meetings to update vendors, depending on the contractor’s readiness. We will try by all means to ensure smooth movement of the vendors and transport operators to avoid inconvenience,” said Clr Moyo adding, “As soon as we know when the project will start, we will communicate with the vendors and they will be notified in due course.”
Clr Moyo said the council’s town planning department had identified possible sites for the transport operators. The sites include the Zupco depot, the old terminus along 3rd Avenue and Lobengula Street and the open space along 15th Avenue.
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