GOVERNMENT will sustain the development momentum that has seen more than 7 000 high impact life-changing projects being completed across the country in the past five years, President Mnangagwa has said.
Towards Vision 2030 to become an upper middle-class
economy, President Mnangagwa has put shoulder to the wheel, constructing roads
in every part of Zimbabwe, modernising and climate-proofing the agriculture
sector through mechanisation, irrigation infrastructure and dam construction.
The education and health sectors in particular, have been
transformed with focus on disadvantaged children and those with disabilities.
As a result of the deliberate Government policies on
agriculture, the country has now achieved food security and sovereignty with
surpluses of all grains expected this season.
In his keynote address at the National Independence Day
Celebrations in Mt Darwin yesterday, President Mnangagwa underscored the importance
of Zimbabweans in the building of a prosperous nation.
This is captured aptly in the theme of this year
Independence Day Celebrations, “Zim@43, Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ Ilizwe
lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo.”
“The successes realised by the Second Republic are
irreversible. To date, my administration has implemented about 7 000 high
impact, life-changing projects since 2018 as a bedrock to lift our people out
of poverty into prosperity,” said the President.
He said while inflationary pressures were triggering price
increases in the past, interventions by Government have arrested inflation and
ensured price stability.
“It is encouraging that inflationary pressures continue to
ease due to a combination of fiscal consolidation and tight monetary policy
measures”.
President Mnangagwa said the notable expansion,
productivity and profitability of entities across all sectors of the economy
have seen the country recording the highest GDP growth in the region with foreign
currency earnings breaking records in 2022.
“Let us continue to fully utilise our internal resources to
modernise and industrialise our country for a higher quality of life for all
our people,” he said.
The President said in the agriculture sector, Zimbabwe is
“Going for Growth”, anchored by an assortment of policies such as the
Presidential Teak Grease Programme with over 1 million households having been
supported with teak grease to mitigate the January disease.
Cattle that died from the January disease in Fort Rixon,
Insiza District in January 2023
President Mnangagwa, who was accompanied by the First Lady,
Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care
Dr Constantino Chiwenga, Zanu-PF Vice-President Cde Kembo Mohadi, Defence and
War Veterans Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Politburo members, Cabinet
Ministers, senior Government officials and service chiefs, said under his
Government’s Agriculture Mechanisation Programme, the country’s farmers have
increased access to mechanisation capacities.
“As a result of public private partnerships, a total of 1
641 tractors and combine harvesters were distributed by December 2022, while 4
400 additional tractors are being imported towards closing the farm
mechanisation gap.
“To ensure that our people fully enjoy improved
productivity of our land and the ongoing modernisation of my Administration,
2-wheeler tractor-kits will be availed to our communal and smallholder
farmers,” he said.
President Mnangagwa added that dams being constructed
across all provinces are set to ensure aspects related to hydro power,
fisheries, irrigation development and potable water benefit communities with
Mashonaland Central Province alone having benefited from the construction of
Semwa, Bindura, Dande and Mbada dams, in a clear sign of development that
leaves no one and no place behind.
“Piped water schemes have also been established at
Chahwanda, Bveke, Kaitano, Kamutsenzere and Chigango. Additionally, the Second
Republic is in the process of drilling one borehole per village across the
country, with the accompanying nutrition gardens, orchards, and fisheries also
being established.
“We are unwavering in our commitment to improve the quality
of life of our people, no matter where they live,” he said.
Under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa Programme, President Mnangagwa
said people are being supported to grow traditional grains and cereals with
more and more households moving from subsistence farming to undertaking farming
as a business.
“This 2022/2023 season, our country is projecting over 3,2
million metric tonnes of cereals against an annual requirement of 2,2 million
metric tonnes.
“This momentum will be sustained and the successes
consolidated. Together, as one united and hard-working people, we have attained
food security and food sovereignty,” he said.
Apart from that, infrastructure development projects
embarked upon by the Second Republic have been game changers and remain on
course.
“We are indeed proud as a country that this sector has
scored unprecedented results on the back of the use of our own internal
resources and local expertise.
A section of the 5km upgraded road linking Beitbridge
Border Post and the major highways to Bulawayo and Harare (Pictures by Thupeyo
Muleya)
“The Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway will soon be
complete, with works on the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, Mutare
Christmas Pass as well as Harare-Chirundu Highway having commenced,” President
Mnangagwa said.
In Mashonaland Central, works will be accelerated on the
Harare-Bindura-Shamva, Bindura-Matepatepa-Mt Darwin, Chimhanda-Rushinga,
Muzarabani-Mahuwe, St Alberts-Dotito and Harare-Guruve-Kanyemba roads as well
as the Ndodahondo-Mukumbura Border Post.
“The modernisation of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and construction of the Mbudzi Interchange in Harare are ongoing. These and other projects undertaken to date are enhancing internal connectivity as well as establishing Zimbabwe as a regional gateway into the continent,” the President said. Herald
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