adminMichael Magoronga Midlands Correspondent
Gokwe Town Council is upgrading its infrastructure as it seeks to achieve municipal status by 2025, an official has said.
In an interview, Gokwe Town scretary Ms Melania Mandeya said the town council wanted a civic centre. “We want to achieve municipal status by 2025 and at the rate at which we are moving we can achieve our target. We are currently in the process of constructing and upgrading available infrastructure,” she said.
“We want to avoid a situation where people travel all the way to Kwekwe or Gweru for services. We want to be independent and be able to service our own people. So we can do that only by building infrastructure that is able to serve all the people,” said Ms Mandeya.
She said the town council had an advantage of a Government complex which housed the court.
“Already we have a plus since we have a Government complex that houses the regional court. Cases from bigger cities like Kwekwe come to Gokwe for hearing. So we have somewhere to start from,” she said.
Ms Mandeya said the projects included upgrading of roads, schools, recreational facilities, hospitality facilities, improving the water and electricity situation.
“A municipality should be able to supply clean water to its people. We have a good plan. We want to move from using borehole water to tape water. We will identify water bodies where we can draw water,” she said.
“We intend to upgrade our roads. But our major drawback on roads is the type of soils that we have in the area. They are loose soils that are easily eroded leaving us in dire situations especially if it rains,” Ms Mandeya said.
She said a Town House was under construction and would be commissioned soon.
Ms Mandeya said they also intended to build a hotel and a stadium.
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