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Lovemore Chikova Development Dialogue

Revelations by Cabinet this week that the Second Republic has implemented at least 7 000 projects, 5 000 of them having been completed since 2018, is one of the key indicators that President Mnangagwa has pushed the country to a new era of notable development.

Successfully implementing 5 000 projects within five years, with 2 000 others at various stages of development, is a big statement to all Zimbabweans that the game has indeed changed.

The Second Republic does not promise what it cannot deliver.

When he assumed office, President Mnangagwa promised “development, development and development” and now it is open to everyone that the promises have been delivered, are being delivered and will continue to be delivered.

The projects are evidence that the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa is committed to deliver on its promises to transform millions of lives in its resolve to achieve an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

As a strategy to ensure planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the projects, the New Dispensation came up with the 100-day cycle programme.

This programme guided the actions on development as it became easier to track the performance on projects and assess progress.

The 100-day cycle divided the development calendar into blocks of 100 days each, making it simpler to monitor and take necessary action to push the projects forward.

The 100-day cycle programme is being supported by the National Development Strategy 1, which outlines the developmental ambitions of the Second Republic.

What is important about the 7 000 projects cited by Cabinet is that they all have a positive impact on citizens’ livelihoods.

And this is what the people yean for – visible results on projects that positively impact on their lives.

The projects cut across all facets of the economy, and are spread to all parts of the country, including those once considered as marginalised.

The implementation of the projects in all parts of the country is in line with the stance taken by President Mnangagwa that the Second Republic leaves no one and no place behind when it comes to development.

This five-year period undoubtedly tops as the one in which development was accelerated in Zimbabwe, making it a shining example of how a developing country can chart its own developmental path.

Although there has been some public private partnerships on some of the projects, a significant number of them have been funded by Government using local resources and local companies for implementation.

This is a strong message galvanising Africans that if they look internally, they can actually achieve more in development than depending on outsiders, some of whom come with their own agendas. In most cases, the agendas brought by foreigners are selfish, initiating a huge debate among developmental experts on the good and bad of depending on foreigners for development.

Zimbabwe has not shut the door to outside help in its developmental thrust — the Second Republic has adopted a “Zimbabwe is open for business” stance that actually invites those wishing to do business with the country to come.

President Mnangagwa has emphasised that the deals with these foreign investors should always be of mutual benefit, with both sides emerging as winners.

This helped the country attract investors under the New Dispensation, benefiting intensely from these investments which have not been one-sided.

According to the latest statistics released by Cabinet, 163 projects have been completed in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, while 67 are ongoing.

In Harare Metropolitan Province, 121 projects have been completed, while 146 are ongoing, giving a total number of projects in the area of 267.

In Manicaland, 777 projects are now complete with 174 underway. Mashonaland Central has 581 completed projects and 146 ongoing projects.

In Mashonaland East Province, 604 projects have been completed, while 257 are ongoing, with Mashonaland West having 452 completed projects and 152 underway.

In Masvingo Province, 537 projects are complete with 140 are under construction, while in Matabeleland North Province, there are 435 completed works with 234 ongoing.

Matabeleland South has 523 completed projects with 277 ongoing, while Midlands has 791 completed projects and 292 ongoing projects.

These statistics show an even developmental trajectory that does not leave any place behind, as all provinces have had a share of the development.

Among these projects are some of the biggest projects to be implemented in the country.

These include Lake Gwayi-Shangani in Matabeleland North, the reconstruction of the Harare-Masvingo Highway and the Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway, the modernisation of the Beitbridge Border Post, the completion of the Hwange Thermal Power Station’s Unit 7 and the on-going works on the power station’s Unit 8.

The following is a glimpse of some of the projects implemented countrywide in the last five years:

Health

Using devolution funds, a number of health centres were constructed in various parts of the country, while others were rehabilitated and upgraded.

These health centres were also equipped with machinery that made it easier for rural people to get top treatment, while cutting the distances they used to travel for some of the specialist services.

Some of the clinics that were completed were Mashamvura in Chivhu; Mutasa in Buhera, Cowdray Park Health Centre in Bulawayo, Mataga Health Care in Mberengwa, Mpata Clinic in Makonde, Nyagande Clinic in Uzumba and Maringazuva, Zvakanaka, Nyamatito and Nyaurungwe in Gokwe North.

Mining

There has been a lot of activities in the mining sector, with new projects coming on board in the past five years.

A major milestone was scored in lithium mining after Government banned the export of raw lithium. This promoted companies in lithium mining setting up production centres at their sites, with some of these centres already functional.

Projects in this sector include the Dinson Colliery Coke Oven Battery Construction in Matabeleland North; Lithium Processing Plant at Sabi Star in Manicaland; Mimosa Mining Company Optimisation of the Concentrator Plant in the Midlands; the Rio Zim Murowa 500TPH Greenfields Diamond Plant and Establishment of a Ferrochrome Smelter at Amazon in Midlands; the lithium processing plant at Arcadia Mine in Goromonzi and Tshingshan Iron Ore and Chrome/Coke Value Addition Project in Mashonaland East.

Mimosa Mining Company and Murowa Diamond have also built plants for processing of platinum and diamonds.

Infrastructure

The Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme has seen more than 50 000 kilometres of roads being attended to for rehabilitation.

These include major roads like the Harare-Masvingo, Masvingo-Beitbridge, Harare-Chirundu and Bulawayo Victoria Falls highways. Other smaller roads were also rehabilitated, including bridges.

Some of the bridges rehabilitated or rebuilt included Rwenya Bridge between Mashonaland East and Manicaland provinces, Karanda Bridge in Mashonaland Central and many others that were newly constructed.

The other flagship project was the Beitbridge Border Post upgrading, which was commissioned in 2022 by President Mnangagwa and created over 2 000 jobs for the locals.

Education infrastructure was also strengthened with the establishment of new schools, construction of classroom blocks at schools and rehabilitation of school premises.

Agriculture

The country is now enjoying food security — thanks to programmes instituted by the Second Republic that have seen bumper harvests in most of the crops in the past seasons.

The Government drastically increased land under irrigation and procured agricultural machinery from countries like Belarus and Brazil. The Presidential Borehole Drilling Programme scheme aims to drill 35 000 boreholes throughout the country, with a survey having revealed that there 35 000 villages in the country.

This means each village will have a solar power borehole for domestic use and for nutritional projects under irrigation.

Some of the initiatives were irrigation development, piped water schemes, the tick grease programme and the Presidential Poultry Pass-on Programme.

Manufacturing

The projects being implemented in the sector are meant to value-add and beneficiate agriculture and mining products.

Projects include the installation of state-of-the-art leather processing plant by Zambezi Tanners in Bulawayo, the New Blending Plant and Granulation Plants at ZimPhos in Harare, and the wheat milling Plant at Mega Market in Manicaland. There is also the revival of industries in the manufacturing sector which seen the majority of goods on shop shelves being locally produced. Information, Communication Technology

Several health institutions and vocational training centres were connected to the internet during this period, with ICT laboratories Community Information Centres being established across the country’s 10 provinces.

Justice delivery

A number of courts were built in various parts of the country as the Second Republic sought to bring justice delivery closer to the people.

Magistrates courts were constructed at Epworth, Chiredzi, Lupane and Gwanda, with many other on the cards in various districts.