adminDirector of Finance and Administration in the Ministry of Public Works Mr Christopher Dube last week said the space was Government property. It was a designated site for a commissioning centre.
“The area is supposed to be a centre housing such government offices as the Public Service Commission, the Anti-corruption Commission to name just a few. In the interim we are not establishing the centre but using the space to contain civil servants’ vehicles that are currently congested at complexes such as Kaguvi, Mukwati, the old Reserve Bank and the new Government building,” said Mr Dube.
Mr Dube revealed that they had since engaged a contractor for the project adding that the erection of a fence around the space had already started.
“As we speak there are people marking parking bays there. We will hire a security company to guard the premises 24 hours a day.
“Our major objective is to decongest the areas I mentioned earlier at the moment but later we will revert to the original plan we have for the space,” he commented.
Instructors who chose to speak on grounds of anonymity said the development would affect them immensely.
“This situation has disrupted all our plans. We had learners who had booked dates with the Vehicle Inspection Department for road tests but we cannot longer do our lessons with them. We do not even know where we will go from here.
“Last year they closed one such training space at the corner of Robert Mugabe Road and Enterprise Road but it is lying idle unto this day,” complained one of the instructors.
The other one said the only space remaining was in the Kopje area but there were just too many people using it.
“All along we have been paying US$10 per car per month and we thought that money was being invested towards developing this space for our benefit but now they just tell us from nowhere to leave.
“We were not given any notice. We just arrived to find the gates closed and workmen starting to erect fences around the space,” said the dejected instructor..
One owner of a driving school, Mr Alfred Mutengwa said the development was rather unfortunate and ill timed.
“It will cause chaos as people will be forced to queue for turns at the space in the Kopje area.
“There used to be three training pads in the whole of Harare but now only one is remaining. This means that there is discontinuity to the process of training drivers,” said Mr Mutengwa.
“People do not seem to see driving as a profession.
“Driving is an indispensable component of the transport industry and most importantly the economy of the country,” he said.
Online Reporter