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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Reporter
TSHOLOTSHO Rural District Council has unveiled an ambitious 10-year expansion master plan for Tsholotsho Centre covering a radius of 10km that will see the local authority availing industrial, commercial and residential stands.
The expansion will result in villagers from three surrounding wards being relocated.
Engagements with the affected villagers, traditional leaders as well as councillors have since started.
A resolution was reached that for Tsholotsho to contribute towards the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), there is a need to grow its business centre to a town.
Villagers that will be affected by the Tsholotsho RDC expansion plan are in Wards 12, 13 and 22. Ward 22 Councillor Phumuza Dube is also the area committee chairperson for the expansion project.
The three wards, including the business centre, have a total population of 22 881, according to the 2022 housing and population census results.
Council officials said stands will be availed for factories, retail shops, high, medium and low housing develoment and there will also be smallholder plots for those who want to venture into peri-urban agriculture.
Despite being endowed with natural resources such as gold, gas, timber and game, Tsholotsho centre has no manufacturing industry or major supermarkets.
This has resulted in the slow growth of the business centre to a town.
A poor road network has also been blamed for the slow growth of the business centre.
Real development is, however, set to take place in Tsholotsho with the Second Republic committing itself to rehabilitating the 115km Bulawayo-Tsholotsho road.
Already, work on the 10km stretch is almost complete. The first phase begins at the 10km peg from Bulawayo and is expected to stretch up to the Gwayi River Bridge in Umguza District.
During a fact-finding mission last month, the Office of the President and Cabinet said the rehabilitation and surfacing of the entire Bulawayo-Tsholotsho road would be the Government’s top priority project in the district.
The road project was earlier estimated to cost about $350 million and is expected to bring huge relief to the motoring public and enhance economic growth in the district, which is home to the first-ever Rural Electrification Agency’s 60KW solar project at Bemba area under Chief Tategulu, 70km from Tsholotsho Business Centre
Having sound roads is one of the critical enablers towards achieving set targets under the NDS1.
The council recently revealed that it will make it mandatory for companies with timber concessions in the district to set up furniture manufacturing factories which will give impetus to the district’s industrialisation.
“The plan to expand is already in motion, we started by engaging the affected villagers and their leaders to have a buy-in. I am happy that the plan didn’t meet many objections and some villagers gave us their preferred areas where they want to be resettled,” said Tsholotsho RDC chairperson, Cllr Esau Siwela.
Those who want to keep their homes within the radius will be asked to regularise with council for those homesteads to be turned into town houses.
Online Reporter