‘Set aside 30 percent of budget for new city’

Sunday Mail Reporter

THE Government should allocate at least 30 percent of the national Budget annually towards accelerating development of the new city in Mt Hampden, a Cabinet Minister has said.

In his presentation at the 2025 Pre-Budget Seminar in Bulawayo on Friday, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said the funding was required for onsite and offsite infrastructure.

To date, the Government has already completed the development of some of the city’s core infrastructure, including the new Parliament building, which will be the nucleus around which the metropolis will be developed.

In addition, roads have been developed to connect Mt Hampden with Harare, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East provinces, and other regions.

Work on 18 luxury villas that will form part of the city is also nearing completion.

“For the development of the new city, the proposal is to set aside at least 30 percent of the budget every year towards development of this initiative,” said Minister Garwe.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, chief director, spatial planning and development, in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works Mr Shingirayi Mushamba said the funding will support development of essential infrastructure like road networks, drainage system, sewer and water lines, and electricity distribution.

“That kind of money is what would be required to set up the infrastructure for the new city in Mt Hampden . . . such infrastructure includes opening up of roads, drainage, sewer and water lines,” he said.

“In addition, this will enable setting up of electricity distribution networks.

“That way, when we invite investors, we point to them at a serviced stand.

“The value of a serviced stand will be high and the expectation is that from the sales of serviced land, Treasury will eventually recoup all the money that would have been used.”

Mr Mushamba described the proposal as a “game-changer”, saying reliance on domestic resources instead of external financing to develop the city was key.

“This is really a game-changer in the sense that we are not looking at outside financing partnerships; we are looking at our domestic resources and channelling them towards infrastructure outlay so that we can improve the value of the land in the new city; so that we can sell it at much higher value.

“This will obviously trigger development of high-value properties.”

According to the master plan, the city will be developed in four distinct phases spanning a 10-year period.

The first phase, which will run for two years, will entail the creation of traction and development infrastructure.

The Government has already started working on the first phase.

This phase will be funded through Treasury and “donations from the private sector and other partners”, according to the blueprint.

Phase two will involve the development of baseline infrastructure through funding from Treasury, public-private partnerships (PPPs), loans and issuance of bonds, debentures or bills.

The next phase, running from year five to 10, will witness the development of commercial, residential and industrial areas through PPPs, foreign direct investment (FDI), syndicated loans, development finance and export credit finance, among other instruments. The final phase will entail continued development of commercial, residential and industrial areas from year 10 going forward through private equity, PPPs, FDI and syndicated loans. The new city concept was approved by Cabinet in December 2018.