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Zimbabwe won the bid to co-host the 20th session of the WTO-GA with Zambia next year, a move described as a major sign of global confidence in the country’s tourism industry.
The hosting of the coveted event is also expected to create a lot of job opportunities in different economic sectors.
Speaking during the Matabeleland North provincial development committee meeting at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex in Bulawayo yesterday, heads of Government departments said communities and business people in the province have lobbied them to request the Government to relax tender requirements for them to benefit from UNWTO- GA projects.
The heads of Government departments said business people, especially from Hwange and Victoria Falls had complained that the SPB requirements were too stringent and that if not addressed locals would not benefit.
“Business people from the province are complaining that SPB tender conditions are too stringent. Some of the conditions include registering with different bodies such as the Ministry of Public Works, employment councils, SPB, Zimbabwe Builders Construction Association, the Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe, the need to have a tax certificate and vendor numbers. They are saying these requirements are too difficult to meet especially considering that the tender process is administered from Bulawayo,” said Ms Latiso Dlamini, the Provincial Administrator.
“The locals are requesting a waiver on some of these conditions so that they could manage to get the tenders. In the previous meetings, the Ministry of Public Works was tasked to make follow-ups on this issue in liaison with the local organising committee. They were given the task to identify jobs that could be given to locals.”
The participants proposed that the business community in Hwange and Victoria Falls be involved in identifying service providers and that preference should be given to local companies.
“This is very important because we have been receiving complaints from locals who are saying they are being sidelined from benefiting from the projects. We are saying why can we not identify specific job sectors, which would be set aside for locals. We should assist the local communities,” said another participant.
Matabeleland North provincial education director Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni said locals should not only benefit from manual labour alone but be given tenders for big projects such as supply of construction material.
She said even if big companies win tenders, they should sub-contract to small local companies.
Victoria Falls Town Clerk Mr Godfrey Maphosa said the administration of tender documents in Bulawayo was disadvantaging small companies in Victoria Falls and Hwange adding that his council has not been involved in the identification of the projects.
Speaking during a discussion, a senior official from the Ministry of Public Works who declined to be named said his ministry has categorised the economic sectors and crafted a list of works that could be tendered out to local business people.
“We have identified the sectors and categorised them according to their capacity and the list has been sent to head office for consideration. However, suppliers have to note that the Government requires them to deliver first before getting paid. We also urge local business people to work as groups in order to improve their operational efficiency,” said the official.
The official assured the province that locals would benefit and reported that some have already started benefiting from projects such as construction of Victoria Falls Hospital, construction of temporal shelters, flats, shades, offices for site foreman and contractors.
On Tuesday President Mugabe and his Zambian counterpart Mr Michael Sata and the UNWTO secretary general, Mr Taleb Rifai signed the historic Trilateral Host Agreement for the 2013 general assembly.
More than 4 000 local and international delegates are expected to throng Victoria Falls next year when the country hosts the event.
Hopes are high that the hosting of conference would help restore Zimbabwe’s reputation as a favourable tourist destination, enhance new investments, employment creation and income generation.
The projects include the expansion and refurbishment of the Victoria Falls District Hospital into a state of the art institution, upgrading of Victoria Falls International Airport, rehabilitation of roads leading into the town, relocation of the dumpsite, availing of dustbins to every household, television and radio signal and rehabilitation of sewer and water reticulation systems.
Online Reporter