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Nyore Madzianike Manicaland Bureau
THE City of Mutare is seeking additional land to expand its geographical boundaries, a move which is likely to ease shortages of land in the eastern border town. Council has since submitted a master plan to private consultants for approval before it applies to the Ministry of Local Government, Housing and National Development for additional land. Mutare City public relations manager Mr Spren Mutiwi said council was in need of nearly 15 000 hectares of land.

“We have come up with a master plan, which we have since submitted to consultants for finer details. Once it has been fine tuned we will then submit it to the Ministry of Local Government for approval.

“Under the new master plan, once approved without any changes, we are looking forward to 14 995,31 hectares of land. The additional piece of land which we are looking forward to is almost equal to the existing council land, which is about 16 700 hectares. In other words, we are seeking land which is double the existing one,” he said.

Mr Mutiwi said council was running out of land and the most affected areas were the high density suburbs. He, however, emphasised that industrial land was still available with about 120 hectares yet to be occupied.

“As the local authority, we have run out of land in high density suburbs, but about 120ha for industrial development is available. High density suburbs are the most affected ones, hence the need to come up with the master plan to avert the problem. We believe the new master plan will chart a new development discourse and avert the land shortages,” he said.

Mr Mutiwi expressed hope that 2018 would be a prosperous year with a lot of business opportunities. He said as a local authority, they were looking forward to seeing City of Mutare being a prime investment destination.

“We are confident that 2018 is likely to be a good year and once this master plan is approved, it will then accelerate development with a vision to attain a world class city, and become a prime investment destination by 2030,” he said.

Mr Mutiwi said under the new master plan, they were also expecting to create a business centre for Mutare.

“As you are aware, Harare has Sunway City and we said we should not be seen lagging behind in terms of business development. We said Mutare should also develop in urban and industrial activities. About 100ha is earmarked for industrial development,” he said.

Mutare City town clerk Mr Joshua Maligwa is on record saying council was targeting to provide about 480 serviced stands in Dangamvura.