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Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
Nearly 400 people, most of them from Matabeleland North Province, have been employed by the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) to construct houses for families that were relocated to pave way for the 360km powerline stretching from Hwange to Insukamini near Bulawayo.
The new powerline is part of the US$1,5 billion Hwange Power Station expansion project which is now 80 percent and will generate an additional 600MW.
The expansion project involves the construction of additional two units of 300MW each at Hwange 7 and 8.
ZPC is building new homes for the 73 displaced families under its Relocation Action Plan (RAP).
The President Cde Mnangagwa officiated at the project’s ground-breaking ceremony last August.
Twelve homesteads were handed over to beneficiaries in Village 4 in Epping Forest under Umguza District early this month.
The power utility said it has employed 392 people to construct the new homesteads and 297 of the workers are locals from Matabeleland North province.
Those engaged include builders, painters, thatching experts and general hands.
The workers are mainly from Hwange, Tsholotsho, Bambanani, Gwayi Siding, Epping Forest, Stevenson’s Farm and Hope Fountain.
Chief Deli from Nyamandlovu said his community was excited by the project.
“This is a great development that has created jobs for our people while at the same time uplifting the people’s living standards. These families that have been relocated will all have decent houses built for them,” he said
Chief Deli said the standard houses being built for the families will encourage his people to also build good houses for themselves.
He said he was also looking forward to the renovation of his homestead as promised by Zesa board chairperson, Dr Sydney Gata during the handover of the first batch of completed homesteads at Epping Forest early this month.
ZPC project site manager, Engineer Forbes Chanakira, said they expect to complete the project within the next four months.
Eng Chanakira said they were working on about 20 houses in Hope Fountain that are expected to be completed by the end of this month.
“We also have houses under construction in Cluef and Stevenson, Bambanani and other areas also expected to be completed end of this month or beginning of March,” he said.
Eng Chanakira said the outbreak of Covid-19 delayed the completion of the project as supply of building materials was disrupted.
“The target was to complete the project in four months but we were forced to reschedule the completion dates due to the Covid-19 disruptions,”he said.
Eng Chanakira said the situation was now back to normal and they were getting materials as and when they needed them.
He said the other challenge they were facing was failure to secure land to build 10 homesteads in Hope Fountain where there is a lot of artisanal gold mining.
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