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Kariba Bureau

HURUNGWE Rural District Council is set to take advantage of the newly-tarred Karoi-Binga Road to transform Zvipani Business Centre into a growth point.

The road is expected to attract investors and bring development that will result in an improvement of livelihoods for people in the area.

Already, nearly 200 residential and commercial stands have been identified and prospective buyers have been invited in a move aimed at establishing a planned settlement.

Previously, traditional leaders were responsible for parcelling out stands without any formal planning.

A motion for growth point status for the business centre has already been discussed and projects are already being implemented.

Councillor Edmore Nyamukumba of Ward 25 said growth point projections by Hurungwe Rural District Council were underway despite the economic challenges.

“We have nearly 200 stands including churches, schools and residential but the uptake has been very slow owing to the economic hardships where purchasing power has been significantly reduced.

“Government has done a lot to support our cause by bringing the tarred road to our doorstep. The road has passed the business centre and we can only grow from here,” said Clr Nyamukumba.

The stands range from 300 to 3 000 square metres. In the long run, Zvipani will prove to be a key centre between Karoi and Siakobvu as it connects to Binga and eventually Victoria Falls.

Once complete, the road will significantly reduce the distance to the resort town of Victoria Falls, raising chances of the area getting spin-offs from the tourism traffic.

Work on the road is progressing with the first 10km stretch of the road being funded through money collected from the 2 percent Intermediated Tax while gravelling has been done up to Sanyati Bridge.

The project is being undertaken by the District Development Fund (DDF) with another contractor working on the Siakobvu stretch, making it more accessible than before.

This will reduce the number of hours that people spend on the road while the cost of transport is expected to go down drastically as more transport operators ply the route.

A 160km trip from Karoi to Siakobvu costs around $150 using Ecocash while the 50km stretch between Siakobvu and Mola costs around $150 owing to the poor state of the road.