Gwanda town expansion gathers momentum

000 families were set to benefit from the project.
He said the municipality was engaging the owner of Judds Farm on the western part of the town with a view of turning the area into a new suburb with several stands including industrial, businesses, shopping malls and residential.
Mr De-Necker added that so far they had listed 700 people who were interested in taking up the land in the area.
He said the stands would be serviced on a cost recovery basis.
The farms, which include Hampden area, part of Deneys, Doullfontein and Judds, would be incorporated as Ward 10.
“At the moment we are engaging the Judds Farm owner in the western part of the town and have since agreed on a number of issues.
“ We are also listing the number of people who are interested in taking up land in the area.
“We are targeting at least 1 000 people. These will pay for servicing the land and other logistical issues including surveys.
“After we are done with this farm we will also work on the other peri-urban farms. Some of the farms will be used for various council income-generating projects while we are also looking at reducing the housing backlog which is over 6 000.
“The Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement and the Department of Physical Planning have been consulted to come up with the town layout plans,” he said.
The mayor said the process was taking long to complete since they needed a lot of money to fund the programme.
“We are going to make effective use of the acquired land as soon as we have enough resources for the expansion programme.
“This will, however, be done in phases,” he said.
It is understood that under the new arrangement, some property owners in Hampden will remain on their properties but will now pay rates to the municipality and not the rural district council.
Gwanda town has been dogged by accommodation problems for a long time to the extent that at least 24 people were sharing a four-roomed house in 2007.
The opening of a nurse training school and the Joshua Mqabuko Polytechnic College has also fuelled demand for accommodation in Gwanda.