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Blessings Chidakwa
Herald Reporter
The Harare City Council has started preparing its master plan with the first draft expected to be presented before the council
for adoption.
It will then be submitted to the Government before the end of January next year.
The move is in response to President Mnangagwa’s Call to Action under which local authorities’ service delivery should
improve.
Consultant Development Studio Africa Pvt Ltd is rolling out the master plan in partnership with Surbana Jurong Infrastructure
of Singapore, renowned for doing the Kigali Master Plan in Rwanda.
A master plan is an overall land use planning document that constitutes policies and strategies regarding how land should be
used and how developments should occur, looking at future water supplies, road networks, housing provision, environmental
management, and transport.
Speaking during the deployment meeting of research assistants, the principal consultant for the Harare Masterplan project Mr
Trymore Muderere said 650 enumerators have been deployed to conduct research on the ground.
“Today we are deploying for the thematic issue of traffic and transportation. We did convene a deployment meeting and
deployed to 50 major traffic nodes across the City of Harare, as well as the major district distributor points.
“We have deployed a total of 650 research assistants, or what we call traffic enumerators.
These enumerators, Mr Muderere said, will be counting cars to guide the city on dealing with traffic.
“The very same enumerators shall be deployed to residential and commercial areas to collect primary data from residents and
space users, which is crucial in master planning,” he said.
“We are guided by legal provisions. We estimate that by January 28, 2025, the draft master plan will be presented before the
council for adoption as prescribed by the law,” he said.
“We also estimate that by the 30th of January 2025, the Minister of Local Government and Public Works will have been
notified of the City of Harare’s decision to adopt the draft master plan and assuming that process-based consultations would
have happened with the Department of Spatial Planning and Development, residents of Harare and surrounding local
authorities.”
Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume said he is pleased that the consultant is now finally on the ground.
“This new master plan is a legacy milestone for us as the City of Harare. It is important that it is done and completed
expeditiously,” he said.
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