Councils urged to prioritise partnerships
AUTHORITIES at Beitbridge Municipality should prioritise public-private partnerships and formulate investor-friendly policies to accelerate the town’s economic development, a senior Government official has said.
Beitbridge District Administrator Mrs Kiliboni Ndou-Mbedzi said the upgrading of the town into a municipality came with a lot of challenges and expectations from various stakeholders.
She was speaking during a function held to celebrate the town’s upgrading into a municipality on Thursday evening.
The event was attended by mayors, council chairs and local government officials and businessmen from all the 31 urban councils.
President Mnangagwa upgraded the town into a municipality on March 9 as part of Government’s thrust to accelerate urban development.
“The town is ready for investment. A number of investment models can be adopted to accelerate service delivery, economic and social development,” said Mrs Ndou-Mbedzi.
“These include private-public partnerships, build operate and transfer (BOT) and the built own operate and transfer (BOOT) initiatives.
“In addition, this is an opportunity for any serious investor to take up so that you are identified with a focused and prosperous town that prides itself as an investor-friendly zone”.
She said the availability of the Zimbabwe Investment Authority complex in the town also presented an optimal environment to turn the area into a dry port.
She said Beitbridge had investment opportunities in the tourism, education, health, transport and logistics, housing and property development, small to medium enterprises and infrastructure development sectors among others.
“It is also important for investors to take advantage of the town’s proximity to South Africa, which runs the biggest economy on the continent, where raw material and markets for goods and service are readily available.
“Further, Beitbridge has strong transport network for rail, road and air facilities to enhance trade and other economic activities,” said Mrs NdouMbedzi.
Musina mayor councillor Muhlophe Ethel Mihloti said it was critical for the two towns to collaborate on economic and social development initiatives.
“We need to continue working together under the premise our 2004 twinning agreement so that we may develop on the same wave length.
“We have similar opportunities in terms of investment and also share cross-cutting challenges of service delivery and accommodating the transit population,” she said.
Beitbridge mayor councillor Showa Moyo said: “A municipality is a huge responsibility that will require us working together as stakeholders. The road ahead is filled with challenges and we will fight to overcome these (challenges).
“We are fortunate that already there are sister municipalities and cities who have walked through the journey before us who are willing to share critical knowledge on accelerated development primed to improve service delivery,” she said.
Masvingo town clerk Mr Adolf Gusha said it was important for the town’s administrators and policy makers to ensure they moved with a shared vision to sustain issues of corporate governance and meet the demands that came with urban development.