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A DELEGATION from Quelimane, a port in northern Mozambique, is in Zimbabwe on a four-day exchange programme with the Bulawayo City Council which ends today.
The delegation is expected to hold talks with senior city officials as well as visit several council projects as both parties work on cementing bilateral relations in many key economic areas of co-operation such as health, water and sanitation, power generation, culture, and tourism.
It will also discuss areas such as city resilience and climate change, youth policy, and programming and will tour housing projects as well as Criterion waterworks and road rehabilitation projects.
Quelimane Municipality director of projects and strategic studies Mr Sacur Chipire said they had been impressed by the massive infrastructural development programs that the Government is undertaking, adding their country has a lot to learn from Zimbabwe.
Mr Chipire said they had been motivated to twin with Bulawayo by the vast investment opportunities that it offered, adding that the two cities are part of the Youth Climate Fund project.
“Well, we chose Bulawayo because we are captivated by the opportunities that it offers and both cities are part of the Youth Climate Fund project which has disbursed US$50 000 each to the cities to implement projects related to youths.
Mr Chipire said they were also impressed by the investment opportunities that Bulawayo offered.
“We are very, very amazed by the opportunities that Bulawayo offers. When we were coming our way from Chimoio, Mozambique to Bulawayo we were impressed by the infrastructure and facilities that we saw mainly, the roads around the country and in particular the City of Bulawayo.
“We have learnt that we can partner with some organisations nationally and internationally that deal with road rehabilitation so that we can have top-notch roads like in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe in particular,” he said.
The team identified some areas such as energy, and youth development, which they felt were very important to the two cities.
“We want to partner in the energy sector and we want to maximise opportunities in solar power. For instance, when we were coming we saw traffic lights being powered by solar and most houses had solar panels installed on rooftops.
“All the cities in the world are transitioning actively to this clean energy. We don’t want to be left behind,” Mr Chipire said.
He said they were here to learn how to create partnerships with institutions of high calibre like Bulawayo City Council.
Mr Chipire said both Quelimane and Bulawayo had similar water problems and they were looking forward to partnering in that area.
“We both experience water challenges and recently we had a cholera outbreak in our city and we want to partner in projects such as borehole drilling. In our city, we have private concerns who supply water to the council but it is not enough for everyone,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, BCC corporate communications manager Ms Nesisa Mpofu said the collaborations and establishment of the city-to-city relationships will assist in improving the way the city is managed, as well as expose them to better programming and better development.
“I think if you look at the national outlook of engagement and re-engagement, as a city we acknowledge that there are so many areas of expertise and that we need to improve,” she said. — New Ziana.
Online Reporter