The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Hwange Local Board (HLB) has announced its intention to prioritise the completion of the Empumalanga flea market this year.
This decision comes in response to a directive from the Government, guiding the implementation of devolution fund projects and underscores the HLB’s commitment to aligning its initiatives with the larger national agenda, signalling a concerted effort to advance local development in accordance with government directives and priorities.
The flea market, constructed at an estimated cost of $60 million, was initially set to be finished sometime last year but was stalled due to challenges in procuring some of the material needed for construction.
The project is being undertaken through the utilisation of the devolution funds in-line with the Government’s call for local authorities to channel resources from the facility towards high-impact projects.
It will consist of more than 150 stalls, a food court, and a kiosk as well as ablution facilities. In their recent newsletter, HLB acting Town secretary, Mr Paulos Mabhureni said the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works has issued an instruction to all local authorities to refrain from embarking on new infrastructural projects before completing those under construction.
“This year we will stand guided by the Ministry’s guidelines, which state that we first of all complete unfinished devolution funds projects before embarking on new ones. This means we will first of all start by finishing construction of Empumalanga flea market,” he said.
He said the Council will also channel funds towards coming up with a master plan as well as conducting a valuation roll as directed by the Government.
President Mnangagwa officially launched “A call to action- no compromise to service delivery” blue-print as part of interventions to modernise the operations of local authorities to ensure the attainment of 2030 vision targets.
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According to the blueprint, the quality of service provision by local authorities should be in line with a standard upper-middle-income economy. An urgent and immediate requirement is for local authorities to achieve acceptable service delivery levels and observe all applicable laws.
Every local authority should from an organisational, systems and physical planning perspective, be in a state to develop a road map towards a 2030 vision status.
Mr Mabhureni said: “We have also been given a deadline of June to work on our master plan and valuation roll, so part of the devolution funds will go towards these programmes. A master plan is an overall land use planning document which constitutes policies, proposals and strategies regarding how land should be used and how development should occur looking at future water supplies, road networks, housing provision, environment management, industrial development and transport. A valuation roll contains the name of the registered owner of the property. The description of property (both stand number and the street address), the land area or the extent of the land as well as its value.”
He said thereafter (the recommended projects) they will look at the other priority projects they have budgeted for, such as the construction of a new school, upgrading of Empumalanga sewer infrastructure and rehabilitation of Empumalanga Sewer Treatment plant among others.
Through utilisation of the devolution funds, the Council has managed to erect a perimeter fence at its Empumalanga Clinic, as part of enhancing security at the primary health care facility. It has also installed a water storage reservoir at the clinic to ensure the availability of the resource.
The funds have also enabled the local authority to construct a state-of-the-art Early Childhood Development (ECD) block at Nechibondo Primary School in 2022 at a cost of about US$150 000. It managed to fence the facility and also fully furnished the three classrooms. The Council also bought a 10 cubic Tipper Truck, tractor and fire engine.
