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Obert Chifamba Manicaland Bureau Chief
MORE than 20 companies and corporates have expressed interest in investing and doing business with Mutare City Council, in a development attributed to the success of “Operation Restore Sanity”, which dealt with illegal vendors and the menace of lawless commuter onmibuses.

In an interview with The Herald in the aftermath of the operation, Mutare City Council public relations officer Mr Spren Mutiwi said “Operation Restore Sanity” was a resounding success and they were beginning to reap the rewards, as many companies had expressed interest in doing business with them, though he could not reveal the identities of the investors, as negotiations were still in progress.

“The companies have expressed interest in different spheres such as land development, housing construction, solar energy, street lighting, infrastructural development and water infrastructure installation, while some are interested in projects to do with modern technologies for road rehabilitation and construction.

“As a city, we have also embraced Government’s policy of opening up to business opportunities,” he explained.

Mr Mutiwi said the authority’s policies would resonate with Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Monica Mutsvangwa’s calls for Manicaland to open up to business investment opportunities and partnerships.

“We are grateful to the security services sector that partnered us during ‘Operation Restore Sanity’ and we will not hesitate to invite them again should there be new infestations of vendors and lawlessness in the transport sector, which is critical for successful business operations,” warned Mr Mutiwi.

Mr Mtiwi said Mutare City management had also realigned their policies and vision with that of Government’s new dispensation and was ripe and ready for business.

He was however, quick to add that they would be coming up with fresh mechanisms to handle errant vendors and kombi operators who would have surreptitiously found their way back into the city.

His remarks come in the wake of reports that vendors were coming to sell their wares in the evenings while some kombi operators were also back to their old ways of picking and dropping passengers at undesignated points, while touts were reportedly beginning to harass commuters.