KWEKWE City Council is set to channel the $1 million it
received from the Government under the Devolution Fund to upgrade housing units as it seeks to improve living
conditions of residents, an official has said.
The local authority which was allocated a total of $4
million by Government for devolution, has so far received a total of $1 million
in batches.
Acting Town Clerk Dr Lucia Mnkandla has said the money
would be channelled towards three major projects.
“As a council, we
are putting the social housing at the forefront. We are saying our ratepayers
need decent accommodation and hence we are going to demolish a number of
housing units in Mbizo 7 which we will replace by building new ones,” she said.
Dr Mnkandla said the project was already underway and two
housing units have been destroyed.
“We have 10 new houses that we will build in Mbizo 22
before we embark on the upgrading process,” said Dr Mnkandla.
She also said as part of council’s move to adopt pro-poor
policies, it will also upgrade a disused flea market and turn it into a mini
mall as well as erect a state-of-the-art vendors’ market.
“We have a disused flea market near Prince Park. Currently
people are shunning it due to various reasons. But we are saying this is a
sleeping giant. Our plan is to upgrade it into a mini shopping mall where
people will rent at affordable prices,” she said.
She said the land for a vendors market was already
available.
“We have a huge space near the long distance bus terminus.
We intend to empower the marginalised by giving them a platform to earn
livelihoods. In line with our pro poor policies, we are saying people should
feel the love at home and at work so we seek to modernise their place of work
as well as their homes.”
She hailed the Government for disbursing the funds saying
it would go a long way in alleviating poor standards of living.
“We are pushing towards Local Economic Development. As
local authorities we can always encourage active participation by the
marginalised in an economic devolved state,” she said. Sunday Mail
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