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WE welcome reports that the Bulawayo City Council will soon construct a $56 million state-of-the- art shopping complex and regional transit centre at the popular Egodini bus terminus along Basch Street giving a massive facelift to the area but we feel the local authority should go out of its way to accommodate the traders and kombi operators currently domiciled at the facility.
There are 5 000 traders and transport operators who ply their trade at the terminus and their livelihoods are on the line as they will be expected to make way for the imposing complex to be modelled along the lines of Park Station in Johannesburg. While we are not to privy to the city council plans for this group of people as they have not made them public, we hope contingencies have been put in place to find them alternative space to continue their operations.
At a public policy hearing organised by Bulawayo Agenda on Wednesday, the Mayor, Councillor Martin Moyo, said the vendors and transporters should vacate the terminus by 31 December without clarifying where they would be relocated.
There are fears that simply barring kombis from Egodini without finding them alternative premises could result in a nightmarish scenario for the city fathers and law enforcement agents where kombi drivers would use illegal pick up and drop off points all over the city centre. This could also lead to a taxi war as kombis that operate at Egodini will be forced to join their counterparts that use illegal points.
The city centre might resemble a traffic jungle with the increased number of vehicles and cat and mouse games between kombis and the police. Vendors could also simply shift their operations to undesignated sites compounding the confusion. Council has awarded a tender to build the complex to a South African engineering firm, Tearracota (Pvt) Ltd and the facility is expected to be a regional public transport hub for local and regional minibus taxis and luxury coaches passing through the city.
The company has a 99-year lease for the terminus and will also build a shopping centre with office floors as well as entertainment space and visitors’ parking bays. This indeed, is a positive development for the city which of late has been experiencing a flight of investment and closure of industries. Bulawayo badly needs investment and this complex will be one of the biggest developments in the city in a long time.
Besides completely transforming that area of the city, the complex will create employment and increase the volume of traffic into Bulawayo from the region. This will see the city becoming a nexus between countries such as South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Malawi. The Mayor has said that he is aware that the relocation of the vendors and transporters was harsh but this was for the benefit of the city and its people.
He also revealed that they had not yet finalised where the people would be relocated to but the vendors and transport operators would be accommodated in the new facility once it is complete.
We commiserate with the city council on this issue but feel proper planning could have saved it from this mess. For instance, the tender was awarded last year and the local authority had enough time to plan for the commencement of the project. Now it is telling poor vendors and kombi operators to move out in less than two months without providing an alternative. Clearly, this is unacceptable.
The local authority cannot leave traders high and dry as they earn a living from that place. In addition, the logistics of moving such a high number of people to a new place are a headache given the short timeframe. City fathers should have properly identified a fitting structure and done a phased relocation of the vendors.
As for the transport operators, Amakhosi Cultural Centre has been touted as a possible venue and given its proximity to the city centre and abundant space, it could fit the bill. We hope the city council will move with speed to address the situation and come up with a solution that will satisfy all parties concerned taking into account that time is of the essence.
The occupants of Egodini should also realise that this facility will also benefit them as they will be operating from a better place after its completion. At the end of the day, it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Online Reporter