admin
Midlands Bureau
WORK is underway to turn the imposing Midlands Convention and Conference Centre in Gweru, the venue of the Zanu-PF 2012 National People’s Conference into a venue for other national and international events, the chairperson of the Midlands Development Association, Cde Larry Mavima, has said.
In an interview recently, Cde Mavima said the convention and conference centre was now running a successful dairy project.
He said the Midlands Development Association was working on accommodation and restaurant facilities as well as a shopping mall so that the conference centre becomes a one-stop venue for important events.
“This conference centre might be a Zanu-PF project but it is being run as a business model. We are running a successful dairy project. The project started with 10 dairy cows but we now have 17 cows. We realised very good results in our first year.
“This is a project designed to benefit mostly our youths and we are working in partnership with the Midlands Dairy Farmers Association who are providing our youths with the technical skills,” said Cde Mavima.
He said several youths underwent training in dairy farm management.
“They were trained basically on everything to do with dairy farming. The training covered how to take care of the cows and when to milk them.
“It is a very successful partnership that we have with the Midlands Dairy Farmers,” said Cde Mavima.
He said MDA had plans to court private players to help the association construct the shopping mall, long distance bus terminus and hotel.
“We are working on turning the conference centre into a one stop-centre where everything is under one roof.
“MDA is working on plans to provide accommodation and restaurant facilities. We are going to court big players in the hospitality industry to help us with the project.
“There are also plans to construct a shopping mall and decongest Gweru Central Business District.
“We intend to construct a long distance bus terminus because we are situated in between two major highways, the Harare-Bulawayo highway and the Mvuma-Masvingo Highway. This is a massive project that is going to change the landscape of Gweru,” said Cde Mavima.
He said the new additions to the centre would help guests to dedicate more time on their business instead of spending time travelling back to Gweru for accommodation and food.
He said the massive conference centre was far from being a white elephant as it has played host to a number of meetings, including church gatherings, since its completion last year.
Online Reporter