Online Reporter
Vusumuzi Dube, Deputy Radar Editor
A MAJOR overhaul of informal trading in Bulawayo is looming after the local authority approved a raft of measures aimed at creating more trading space, ease congestion in the central business district and improve working conditions for thousands of informal traders.
At the centre of the changes is a proposed partnership between the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) and the City of Bulawayo to develop a new trading complex at the Bhaktas Site along Lobengula Street between First and Second Avenue.
The development is expected to provide long-term relief to thousands of traders operating in overcrowded and undesignated spaces within the city centre.
According to the latest council report, Bulawayo had 4 488 officially allocated informal trading bays in the Central Business District by December last year, while more than 4 000 traders were operating along Fifth Avenue alone.
Council noted that the number of traders operating within the city centre continues to grow, resulting in many conducting business from undesignated areas.
“The CBD had the largest concentration of MSMEs as people from all over the city and other provinces come to sell their products in the city,” reads part of the report.
Council said the rise in informal trading was largely linked to de-industrialisation and retrenchments from some of the city’s once thriving industries including Merlin, Dunlop, G&D, the Cold Storage Commission and the National Railways of Zimbabwe.
“Retrenchments in the major industrial establishments resulted in people being involved in the informal economy for survival purposes,” the report said.
After previously failing to attract investors through a public tender, the city said the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe had now expressed interest in assisting with the infrastructure development of the Bhaktas Site.
Council has since resolved to engage the bank in the proposed partnership before seeking approval from the Ministry of Local Government and the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency.
In another major development, council approved the relocation of traders operating at the corner of 12th Avenue and Lobengula Street, commonly known as the ZESA Site, to Lobengula Street Mall, also referred to as Site Six.
The traders, most of whom sell fruits, vegetables and clothing, were initially moved to the ZESA site following the temporary closure of the Egodini Terminus for redevelopment.
Council said the relocation had become necessary to allow the reopening of a section of 12th Avenue to traffic.
Under the new arrangement, traders will be allocated bays numbered 807 to 953 at Lobengula Mall. The city has also approved temporary relocations for traders operating along Lobengula Street to pave the way for the completion of major road rehabilitation works.
The rehabilitation programme includes pothole patching, road reconstruction, storm-water drainage upgrades and road marking works.
Council noted that the intersection of Third Avenue and Lobengula Street had become notorious for a giant pothole that social media users dubbed the “King Pothole”.
The report noted that construction work, which started in March last year and was expected to last 30 weeks, had experienced delays due to major sewer and water infrastructure reconstruction works.
To ensure continuity of business operations during construction, traders operating between Fourth and Lobengula Street will temporarily move onto shop pavements provided they do not block entrances to businesses.
Those operating between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, as well as along Sixth Avenue Extension, will also be relocated to allow road and drainage works to continue.
Meanwhile, council also approved 14 additional trading bays specifically reserved for persons living with disabilities near OK Zimbabwe supermarket along Sixth Avenue Extension.
The new bays are intended to accommodate licensed traders who were left out during the relocation exercise following the closure of Egodini in 2021.
According to council, 35 trading spaces had initially been allocated to persons with disabilities at Site Six, while another 13 were allocated along Fifth Avenue.
However, disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent relocation exercises left some traders without operating space.
Council said the additional bays would ensure that all affected traders are accommodated and continue earning livelihoods from their businesses.
