admin
On some occasions in their calls for the Government to push through the projects, their views have been laced with political overtones, some with a regional outlook.
The slow progress of those projects has fed some politically misguided elements to push through their political agendas, which lack substance and are very divisive.
This is because we are very much aware that it is not only the Matabeleland projects that have suffered from under-funding as the country has in the past few years been going through serious economic challenges because of the sanctions imposed on the country by the British and their allies, who are carrying a colonial grudge.
However, on Wednesday the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, presenting his Mid-Term Budget Review Statement said the Mtshabezi pipeline would be completed in September while construction of the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport would resume this month.
The Mtshabezi water, however, is viewed as a short-term solution while the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project is the long-term solution to the water woes.
If Minister Biti’s utterances are to be believed then it is welcome news to the people of Bulawayo, who are already carrying the burden of a tight water-rationing regime.
The Mtshabezi water would augment the city’s supplies, a move that would give confidence to investors.
However, the project’s deadline has been postponed on many occasions and we believe this time around we have been given the correct time.
As for the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport, it should be completed as soon as possible because the world tourism slated for Victoria Falls is just around the corner. It will be held in August next year.
We also hope that money allocated to the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) will be put to good use, so that construction work covers a lot of ground.
The speedy completion of the outstanding projects would ensure that attention is turned to new projects in addition to other outstanding projects that were launched much later such as Lupane and Gwanda State universities.
We applaud the Government for allocating funds to these projects that have been on the drawing board for decades and hope that a priority list is drawn up so that we complete specific projects by channelling our resources towards given projects at a time.
This is quite important since where there is no priority, everything becomes a priority, hence robbing us of an opportunity to derive the best possible outcome from our meagre resources due to haphazard deployment.
Online Reporter