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Business Reporter
THE TransLimpopo Spatial Development Initiative will engage the new Government to spearhead the implementation of programmes aimed at fostering economic development in the region, an official has said.The TransLimpopo Spatial Development Initiative was started to create an economic corridor from Limpopo Province in South Africa through to Victoria Falls.However, there has been no implementation of some of the projects that have a potential to unlock foreign direct investment in Matabeleland and the country at large.
The TransLimpopo Spatial Development Initiative was mooted in 2001 when South Africa’s Limpopo Province and Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North and South provinces signed a bilateral economic development pact.
TransLimpopo Spatial Development Initiative co-chairperson Mr Obert Sibanda told Business Chronicle yesterday that they would soon engage the newly elected Government officials and other stakeholders to ensure they buy in ideas under the concept.
“We are waiting for the announcement of a new Cabinet to be made so that we engage the incumbents to buy in the concept. We need support from the political side so that we are able to stimulate progression of the programmes that we envisage will stimulate economic growth in the TransLimpopo corridor,” he said.
He said although there has been slow progress in implementing the TransLimpopo Spatial Development Initiative in the past, “few” benefits had been recorded.
“You would appreciate that although progress has been slow, we have registered a few gains. For example, through the twinning arrangement of cities, trade between Zimbabwe and South Africa has to some extent been increased as a result of the development initiative. And during the 2010 World Cup, we have had a number of small and medium enterprises going to South Africa exhibiting their products,” said Mr Sibanda.
In 2004, he said they came up with a road map to attract investment in Matabeleland adding that their technical committee was working on the draft of the work plan to be presented to their South African counterparts.
This will result in the development of a final draft of the work plan.
Some of the stakeholders in TransLimpopo Spatial Development Initiative in Zimbabwe include the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Bulawayo City Council, Gwanda Town Council, and the Zimbabwe Investment Authority.
On the South Africa side, Limpopo Province and Venda University were some of the stakeholders who were signatories to a Memorandum of Understanding that seeks to promote trade and economic development in the TransLimpopo corridor.
It is envisaged that some of the challenges facing Bulawayo, once the country’s industrial hub, could be addressed if projects under the TransLimpopo Spatial Development Initiative were fully implemented.
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