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Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
HWANGE Local Board (HLB) is struggling to get investors for its $50-million Civic Centre Project resulting in delays in commencement of the project, officials have said.
The 12,5-hectare Civic Centre, which is expected to be Hwange’s first Central Business District was proposed three-years ago as part of the local authority’s drive to attain township status.
Hwange has been without a focal point since its founding in 1899, with the apportioning of land being done by big companies namely Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL), Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority’s subsidiary Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ).
HCCL has over the past five years destroyed some of its low density houses within the vicinity of its commercial business centre to create space for businesses to set up their structures.
“We are still looking for takers for the Civic Centre. So far we have one taker, the Celebration Ministries International.
We also had another offer for a service station from a petroleum company but it hasn’t fully committed itself.
“The uptake isn’t what we would have expected at this time because we believe it is an attractive site that is strategic in terms of business. We are however, still looking for takers who fit within our concept, which is coming up with enormous infrastructure,” said HLB director of housing and community services, Miss Emma Chivaraidze.
HLB chief executive officer Mr Ndumiso Mdlalose attributed the slow uptake of commercial stands at the proposed Civic Centre site to the general performance of the economy.
“There haven’t been many takers for our Civic Centre largely due to the fact that we currently have a depressed economy and as a result a number of people are cautious about investing. We are planning to put up our offices at the site as one of the efforts to lead the way in ensuring infrastructural development there. It’s very difficult for people to appreciate the strategic posting of our proposed Civic Centre through only advertising in the media hence we are taking the initiative through putting an infrastructure ourselves,” Mr Mdlalose said.
He said over the years, the apportioning of land by HCCL, ZPC and NRZ had led to slow growth and as such the local authority was pushing for the amalgamation of all the concessions into one with it overseeing infrastructural development projects and administration.
“The other issue, which should be sorted out as soon as possible is the administration of this area because most people don’t want to be associated with mining town. Government is very keen on addressing the issue and it is one of the things that will inspire confidence among investors if it is addressed. There is need for HCCL and the other companies to pay us land tax,” Mr Mdlalose said.
Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe president Mr Bernard Munyenyeni said there was need for big entities operating within the confines of local authorities to pay levies as part of their obligation of conducting their business in that locality.
As it stands, Hwange is a local board authority created by the constitution of the country and by statute under the body of the Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29:15.
HLB was established in 1974 and due to multiple administration and land ownership by the three parastatals the local authority only administers and offers service provision to three suburbs namely Mpumalanga, Chibondo and Baobab.
“As a local authority we have always highlighted or sold Hwange as a tourist destination with mining activities . . . We want to capture all the business which is passing to the Victoria Falls,” Mr Mdlalose said.
However, the area under the local authority’s jurisdiction is poised for growth with 2 000 residential stands at various stages of development of which 450 stands were allocated to low income earners.
“We introduced a low-income housing scheme as part of our efforts to meet the provincial housing quarter of 3500 as prescribed in Zim Asset.”
He however, said development at the site earmarked for the low-income housing project was moving at a snail pace largely due to low payment of subscriptions by the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries are entitled to pay monthly subscriptions of $50 per month.
“The contractors that are supposed to do water and sewer reticulation as well as the road network at the site of the low-income houses are moving at a slow pace of lack of funds as people are struggling to pay their subscriptions.
“We are therefore looking for financial institutions to lend us money to pay the contractors for their work and there after we service the loan using the cash we get as contributions from the beneficiaries. In actual fact there is a financial institution that has agreed to unveil the funds to us,” Mr Mdlalose said.
ZPC is said to have taken a substantial number of residential stands for its Hwange Power Station (HPS) expansion project. The HPS expansion project would see an additional two units being put to the fold. At present the power station has six units, four units of 120 megawatts (MW) each and two units of 220MW each.
“ZPC intends to eventually move their Ingagula residential area to our area of jurisdiction, which is close to the power station since it is on the windward side of the plant and as such it is posing an environmental and health hazard to residents. So in addition of the low density stands, which the company has taken it has also indicated that it will also needs medium and high density stands as well,” Mr Mdlalose said.
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