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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau 

THE Government staff village comprising 220 houses for civil servants and other State employees assigned to the Beitbridge Border Post is nearing completion, ensuring that those deployed there can do efficient work instead of spending their time looking for somewhere to live.

Civil servants and staff from agencies such as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority tend to be rotated through Beitbridge on assignment of a few years at a time, so are not permanent residents of the town. 

So like the police and increasingly like the health services, employer accommodation is needed to ensure this transient workforce has somewhere respectable and affordable to live.

Zimborders Consortium is building the village as part of its 17,5-year concession from the Government and those living in the houses will be assigned from the civil service, mainly the Department of Immigration, who check people entering and leaving Zimbabwe, and Zimra, who handle the assessment and collection of customs duties.

In the last decade, inefficiency issues had been mainly attributed to the shortage of accommodation for Government agencies and so most critical departments had to work with a lean staff.

However, the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa and its partners secured US$300 million to transform the border post as part of the general policy of making it a lot easier to do business.

The revamp and major upgrade of the border post, already far advanced, has seen the Government providing the land and technical requirements, and Zimborders pumping in the required cash, being allowed to get its return on investment over 17,5 years of border toll fees before handing over the assets to the Government.

The consortium’s chief executive officer, Mr Francois Diedrechsen, said civil works on the housing section were one month ahead of schedule. 

“The planned completion time is between February and March (approximately one month ahead of schedule) and civil works are at varying stages,” he said.

Mr Diedrechsen said some houses are getting their final finishes while others were still under construction, pretty much what happens in any housing development.

The clubhouse area has also been prepped and work has commenced in that area.

Power, sewer and water reticulation services connections have been installed on some properties although not active pending the completion of major civil works. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the accurate spent amounts at hand but what I am certain about is that we have used 80 percent of the budget for the housing development section,” said Mr Diedrechsen.

He said they were expecting civil works to up the tempo when the construction industry re-opens next week following an annual shut down effected in December.

Mr Diedrechsen said the border transformation had the in-port and out-of-port component and that most of these were on track for completion.

In port projects were done in three phases and have all been completed, and include the freight, bus and light vehicles terminals and the Zimborders Maintenance offices, a fire suppression system, upgrading of roads among others.

So far, a new state-of-the-art fire station and the sewer oxidation dam have been completed and handed over to the Government for further management.

Workers are now putting final touches to the 11,4 mega litres water reservoir and animal and plant quarantine centre.

“We applaud the Government for the housing project which will ensure that we have adequate manpower to man the new-look border post,” said the Regional Immigration Officer In charge of Beitbridge, Mr Joshua Chibundu.

“A decently accommodated official is bound to work efficiently and effectively as opposed to one who doesn’t have decent accommodation. 

“Our officers are currently sharing accommodation, a situation that deprives them of privacy and adequately desired rest after a day’s work. The construction of the houses will go a long way in alleviating our accommodation crisis.”

He said they had since made a request to their employer to deploy more workers to Beitbridge to match the border transformation.

Mr Chibundu said the transformed port of entry had brought relief to travellers because traditionally there would be long queues but this festive season, they had no queues.

“I applaud the Government for coming up with this infrastructure which has given our travellers the much-needed relief,” he added.

Beitbridge District Development Co-ordinator, Mrs Sikhangezile Mafu, said the construction of more houses was a welcome development considering that those available were not enough leading to people sharing and others paying high rentals in rands and United States dollars.

“The workers will be relieved and focused to deliver as expected and we anticipate to see a reduction in cases of corruption at the border. You will note that at times the border agencies would be serving their landlords at the border thereby compromising professionalism,” said Mrs Mafu.

Chairperson of the more than 500 informal traders in Beitbridge whose business is largely dependent on cross border activities, Mr Mafios Macheka, said the housing project was long overdue.

“This is a positive development by Government to provide decent accommodation to civil servants. In my view it motivates the workers who will only focus on serving their clients. Definitely, this will go a long way in improving the quality of the service at Beitbridge Border Post,” he said.

A committee member of the Beitbridge Residents Association, Mrs Rumbedzani Ribombo, said besides alleviating accommodation woes, the housing project had created jobs for scores of residents who have been hired.

She said the local authority and central government should also look at constructing market places along the highway for women or residents to sell their wares including curios to tourists and travellers transiting through the town.