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Thupeyo MuleyaBeitbridge Bureau
Government and its partners have poured in a lot of resources to transform Beitbridge border post from a mere crossing point into a modern urban settlement.
At independence, the place was just a growth point and a mere crossing point for travellers and regional and international cargo.
The population has grown from around 3 500 in the last two decades to around an estimated 100 000.
Through the Redevelopment Programme, the growth point was upgraded to a town in 2006 and later to a municipality in 2019.
The programme came with massive civil works projects including the construction of 16 blocks of flats to house 64 families mainly middle class civil servants, 250 core houses for home ownership, 52 F14 houses for civil servants, road dualisation, upgrading water supply and sewer infrastructure in the town.
At the moment, the city authorities at the municipality have set a target to modernise the town into a medium city in line with targets for Vision 2030. Residents note that the town has indeed undergone a massive infrastructure revolution.
“Our new fire station is a great infrastructure project of note,” said Beitbridge Mayor, Councillor Munyaradzi Chitsunge.
“In addition, through devolution fund we have constructed a new primary school, which is milestone achievement. It’s the second school to be constructed by the council since independence. Dulivhadzimu primary was built in 1983.
“The water purification plant together with the new water reservoir on the mountain top if fully operational will play a pivotal role for this community and perhaps also help strengthen the twinning relationship we have with Musina Municipality once we start supplying them with water.”
Cllr Chitsunge said post-independence, the government had managed to expand the sewer oxidation plant in line with the town’s rapid population growth and infrastructure development.
He said the new facility help minimise effluent discharge into the Limpopo River and promote urban agriculture and agricultural tourism activities.
Cllr Chitsunge said the US$300 million border transformation project that has three terminals for freight, buses and private cars changed the face of the town and the country.
“We are also impressed with completion of the dualised road linking the border post and the major highways linking the port of entry and major roads leading to Bulawayo and Harare,” he said.
“As a local authority we also appreciate the rapid infrastructure development in the housing sector where members of the community are also doing wonders by putting up state-of-the art buildings. Generally, together we are making a hub of infrastructure development.”
The local authority has also availed 248 hectares of land that would house Special Economic Zone projects to include heavy and light industries and this is gradually taking shape.
Mr Sam Chimere of Dulilvhadzimu suburb, who is also a business consultant, said he was delighted to see the border town undergoing a massive transformation process post-independence.
He said the change from a growth point, to a town and now a municipality was a game changer, which has attracted notable investment in Beitbridge.
“There are notable development changes in Beitbridge post-independence with the biggest development change being the change of status from a growth point to a municipality which has brought a lot of investment opportunities here,” said Mr Chimere.
“As someone who grew up in this town, I have been able to see the Government and other development agencies building more schools and an investment in that sector. We have fewer such facility before 1980.”
A resident from Malala, Miss Remaketsi Mbedzi said the town’s roads and the major highways had a facelift.
She said there was need to expand the road project to cover most suburbs both old and new.
Beitbridge Residents Association committee member, Ms Rumbedzani Ribombo, said the town had a new look and that the last five years were excellent.
He said housing and business development had improved in the town and the rural component.
“The last five years have seen the town developing rapidly and our hope is that the Government and its partners will keep pouring more resources,” said Ms Ribombo.
“In fact, we are one of the fastest developing areas in the country. We appreciate the efforts by our government.”
Ms Ribombo said the construction of a new water treatment plant that can pump water to supply a radius on over 40km was a welcome development post-independence.
She said more clinics and schools had been built at key areas across the district to address colonial imbalances in terms of service delivery.
Livestock Farmers Union chairman, Mr Sifiso Sibanda, said the opening of a new animal plant and quarantine centre in Beitbridge was a major development for them.
“This is a very critical facility for disease control, especially as for us as communal and small-scale farmers,” he said.
“It is very important to have such facilities in the rating structure and it puts us in a good standing in terms of the product we supply on the export market.”
Mr Sibanda said the facility was a boost for many farmers in Beitbridge who relied mostly on livestock production as a source of livelihood.
These, he said, will have unlimited access to the new facility, considering that most of them were importing better goats and sheep breeds from South Africa.
“They will be able to export or import disease free animals and everything will be done according to book at that place,” said Mr Sibanda.
The animal and plant quarantine centre is one of the key projects under the border modernisation programme that is set for completion at the end of June.
Within this facility, there are various laboratories with a special focus on animal health, general hazards, and farming-related equipment that will be examined for conformity with imports and exports regulations.
Some of the laboratories will be managed by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Veterinary Services, Agriculture Plant, and the National Biotech Laboratory.
Zimborders Consortium chief executive officer, Mr Francois Diedrechsen, said the border project had been implemented in three phases and that the project would wind up in June this year.
The three phases include the construction of the freight, roads, ICT (Phase 1), bus terminal (phase 2), and the light vehicles and out-of-port works under Phase 3.
At least 1 600 Zimbabweans have been hired during the course of the project.
Some of the project’s spill-over civil works within Beitbridge town are the construction of a new fire station, an animal quarantine, sewer oxidation dam, a landfill, Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (road upgrading), construction of 220 staff houses, and 11,4 megalitres.
“It is pleasing to note that efficiencies have improved at the border following the opening of the freight and bus terminals,” said Mr Diedrechsen. “The turnaround time for commercial trucks transiting through this border has improved from three days to three hours since we came into operation.
“Whilst this is a major improvement, we continue to analyse and implement processes to further reduce this time as we move forward”.
Regional Immigration Officer-in-charge of Beitbridge, Mr Joshua Chibundu, said the separation of traffic into commercial, buses and light vehicles had helped address some bottlenecks around the border efficiency management systems.
He said now they were handling traffic based on its needs and that they were hoping the situation will improve further in November upon completion of the light vehicles terminal. Mr Chibundu said previously, the border stakeholders would operate from one crowded building, but now they had more infrastructure to accommodate everyone.
“Efficiency management systems are gradually improving and we have enough facilities to operate from,” he said.
A traveller, Ms Molly Ngara, said the completion of the border project had brought a new lease of life for many border users.
She said using the border in the last decade had become a headache due to delays.
The ambiance of the border, she added, had improved compared to a few years after independence. — @tupeyo