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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Government has released $2 million to facilitate the completion of the construction of civil servants’ houses under the Beitbridge Redevelopment Programme (BRP). The houses are going to ease perennial accommodation woes for its workers deployed to the border town.

The Herald understands that the current tranche of funds have been committed to connecting electricity and the water and sewer reticulation facilities to 52 F14 houses.

BRP is being rolled out as part of the National Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP) initiated in 2006, and is being implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

In a recent interview, the provincial public works director (Matabeleland South) Engineer Sijabuliso Harold Ncube said so far they had used $500 000 on preliminary civil works relating to plumbing and internal fittings for some houses.

He said they were rolling out the BRP in three phases.

“The whole idea is to make sure that we complete the remedial works on the 28 houses and make sure that they are all occupied by the end of August,” he said.

“You will note that we have a shortage of accommodation for Government workers in the province and with the $2 million we received, we decided to start with Beitbridge.”

Eng Ncube said they were working on connecting all the 52 houses to water, electricity and sewer.

He said the New Dispensation was seized with completing outstanding infrastructure development projects.

“Currently, work on the Gwanda Magistrates’ Court has begun after we handed over the project to the contractor two weeks ago”, he said.

“In addition, we are completing the Economics Block at the JMN Polytechnic College and we are also working on the designs of a Registrar-General’s Office in Filabusi.”

Eng Ncube said in Beitbridge, they had started with the completion of F14 houses under phase one. He said phase two will include the completion of garden flats to house 64 families of civil servants.

“We are actually giving impetus to the Treasury to release more money, we want all out projects to be completed,” he said.

He said the houses will be leased out at relatively affordable standard market rates to accommodate the low-income earners.

The Herald is reliably informed that the shortage of manpower at Beitbridge Border Post has perennially been identified as a stumbling block to improved services to both ordinary travellers and commercial goods transporters.

Some of the projects under the programme include road dualisation, upgrading water supply and sewer infrastructure in the town.

Other institutional facilities include a new hospital, primary school, secondary school, civic centre, Government composite office block, modern truck inn, shopping complex, a five-star hotel, an aerodrome and the upgrading of the current border post to meet world-class standards.

Two thirds of these projects are nearing completion, while others have been completed and some are at various stages of construction.