Government Injects $2,5bn in Infrastructure

Letwin Mubonesi

To date, Government has used almost $2, 5 billion on infrastructure projects, which are key enablers to the achievement of goals set under Vision 2030. President Mnangagwa said this while presenting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the official opening of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament.

Mnangagwa said, “The modernisation and rehabilitation of our infrastructure, in particular road networks, has resumed in earnest, with noticeable progress. Given that these are key enablers to our national economic revival as envisaged under Vision 2030, we are determined to leapfrog the quality of our infrastructure across the country. To date, a total of $2,5 billion, which constitutes 34,5 percent of total capital development, has been set aside for various transport, water, public amenities, energy, irrigation, social services and other infrastructural projects.”

He said the Hwange 7 and 8 Thermal Power Project, the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport Expansion, borehole rehabilitation and drilling, and the construction of the new Parliament Building were projects well in progress.

“Dam construction projects such as the Marovanyati Dam, Gwai-Shangani Dam, walling of Causeway Dam, among others, are also on schedule,” the President said.

President Mnangagwa added that the country had collected US$1, 3 billion in tourism receipts.

“The tourism sector remains on an upward growth trajectory, generating about US$1, 3 billion in receipts. To accelerate this growth trend, robust strategies are being pursued to boost investments in accommodation and conference facilities as well as widen our range of tourism products. I urge players in the sector to be flexible and adopt more competitive pricing regimes and to jointly market our attractions with partners from the region and beyond,” he said.

He added that reforms of public enterprises were also on course to ensure they increase their contribution to the country’s economic growth.

He said, “Significant steps that have been realised in the implementation of the Public Enterprise Reforms, these include the: De-merger of Grain Marketing Board (GMB) into the GMB Strategic Grain Reserve and Silo Foods Industries; Recapitalisation of the National Railways of Zimbabwe(NRZ), for which US$420 million has now been secured by the DIDG; Recapitalisation of Cold Storage Company (CSC), of which the approved strategic partner is already on the ground; Unbundling of the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ); Approval by Cabinet of the roadmap for the privatisation of TelOne and NetOne as a single entity and The partial privatisation of Allied Timbers, People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB), Zimbabwe United Passengers Company (ZUPCO) , Agribank and the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ).”

Meanwhile, the ruling Zanu-PF party has bought state-of-the-art mining Gold Carbon-in-pulp (gold CIP) equipment worth about $2, 8 million to improve gold returns in mining operations run by youths in all the provinces.

Secretary for Youth Affairs, Cde Togarepi, who is also a Politburo member, said this in an extraordinary Zanu-PF Midlands Provincial Coordinating Committee meeting. He added that it was high time that the youths took economic enablers like mining and farming seriously for their own benefit and that of the country at large.