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Farai Dauramanzi Herald Reporter
The major boost to critical infrastructure across the country, with a fair slice of this in or for urban areas under the National Development Strategy (NDS1) and Vision 2030, are a direct response to the growing populations in towns, urban planning experts have noted.
The Census 2022 preliminary results that were announced on Tuesday indicate that rural areas still have a higher percentage of the population with 61,4 percent as compared to urban areas which constitute 38,6 percent of the total population.
But the concentrated urban population has risen from just over 4 million people in 2012 to nearly 6 million in 2022, as it jumps from 33 percent to over 38 percent of the total.
The growth is not just the natural increase caused by more people being born than dying, but also a significant rural-to-urban migration.
This growth in urban population by over a million automatically translates to increased demand for services such as water supply, waste management, roads, and housing which the Second Republic has been working to address under the NDS1 and Vision 2030 programs.
Some of the projects being carried out by Government and aimed at addressing service delivery in urban areas include the construction of Kunzvi Dam, Lake Gwayi-Shangani, rehabilitation of the Hwange thermal power station and Beitbridge border modernisation.
Other projects such as the Pomona dump-site project, the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) and housing programmes in various towns also aim to improve service delivery in urban areas, although the rural areas get a good share of the roads programme, have their own dams largely allocated to irrigation, as well as getting a percentage of the water in the urban- orientated dams along with the fishing rights.
Speaking to The Herald, urban planning expert Dr Percy Toriro noted that urban populations have been increasing worldwide since 2008 thereby translating to higher demand for housing, schools, employment, public infrastructure and other urban needs.
“The Government infrastructure projects under Vision 2030 are welcome as they are in sync with the population trends. Infrastructure is a key enabler for socio-economic development.
“The country will require more water reservoirs, larger capacity roads with upgraded junctions, including higher agricultural productivity to support urban food security. The preliminary census results mean higher expectations on all planning and infrastructure utilities,” he said.
Dr Nyasha Mutsindikwa, a regional and urban planner, explained that the rationale of having a census after every 10 years is to inform future national development planning and also to identify key priority areas in terms of resource allocation.
“In terms of responding to this urban population growth, I think the Government has already set the pace in the right direction as reflected by the various projects such as construction of dams like Kunzvi Dam which if completed will improve the water supply in nearby urban areas.
“The ERRP that is also being implemented will also improve the road network quality and capacity. The various housing programs being initiated by the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities will also have a significant impact in responding to this urban population growth,” explained Mr Mutsindikwa.
According to the census preliminary results, the country’s total count now stands at 15 178 979 up 16,2 percent from 13 061 239 a decade ago in 2012, and the present population is living in 3 818 992 households, with in effect every household needing a house or a flat.
The national annual population growth rate between 2012 and 2022 was 1.5 percent with Mashonaland East and West Provinces recording the highest annual population growth rates of 2,9 and 2,6 percent respectively. A fair amount of that high growth was in the urban areas for those provinces, both Ruwa and Norton towns on Harare’s border, plus their own provincial-centred towns further away.
The distribution of the population by province indicates that Harare Province still has the highest count as it had 2 427 209 persons followed by Manicaland with 2 037 762 and Mashonaland West with 1 893 578. In all provinces, the female population was higher than the male population.
The count for the greater Harare area, which has spilled over the boundaries of the province, includes at least another 250 000 or so people in the contiguous urban area that includes Ruwa and Norton plus a range of smaller centres both planned and unplanned.
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