Hosia Mviringi
The curtain has closed on the year 2021.
It has been a year Zimbabwe can afford to look back and reflect on a year well spent on several developmental fronts.
Notwithstanding the unprecedented challenges emanating from escalating Covid-19 infections towards the end of the year occasioned by the Omicron variant, Zimbabwe can look back with satisfaction and pride over its achievements.
The country launched a massive vaccination programme in March 2021, a programme which has so far seen over seven million vaccine doses administered to date, earning the country a top position in the SADC region and Africa.
The country’s vaccine procurement and rollout became the envy of many as the country’s prime tourism resort and newest city Victoria Falls became the first city in the region to attain the coveted herd immunity milestone in May 2021, barely three months into the programme.
Zimbabwe has managed to keep the Covid-19 pandemic under control, with the nation losing a modest 4900 lives in two years of the pandemic.
To put an icing to the cake for Victoria Falls, the country saw the launch of the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange by the President on November 30, a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange which exclusively trades in U.S Dollars.
The launch was accompanied by the landmark listing of the first counter to trade on VFEX, Caledonia Mining which became the third company to list on the bourse after SEEDCO and Padenga Holdings.
The country’s favourable investment environment, driven by the “Open for Business” mantra saw the launching of three newly built hotels by the President in Victoria Falls on December 09, 2021, in a rare show of growing investor confidence.
Palm River Hotel, Zambezi Boutique Hotel and Nkosi Guest Lodge are all new projects that were completed this year despite the Covid-19 pandemic blighting the business environment worldwide.
The year saw massive spending by the government on major infrastructure projects that include the flagship Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway expansion which has so far opened more than 300km to traffic.
The construction of the modern Mbudzi Interchange is expected to change the face of motoring in Harare upon completion in the coming year.
Lake Gwayi-Shangani who’s a project which was allocated
ZW$4.5billion in 2021 will receive its first inflows this year while six contractors have already begun laying the 245km Gwayi-Bulawayo pipeline that is expected to deliver fresh water to the Bulawayo metropolis upon completion.
The government also allocated ZW$3.6billion to the project for the 2022 fiscal year which is expected to see the project to its completion.
The Gwayi-Shangani Dam project is expected to restore Bulawayo to its former glory when the city was the country industrial hub.
The project is expected to transform lives, as it will form a green belt along the pipeline as more irrigation projects will take root.
The majestic new Parliament building in Mount Hampden is nearing completion and is expected to be officially opened in the first quarter of 2022 as major civil works are nearing completion.
It is expected to headline the establishment of a new modern city that will ease congestion in Harare and attract new investments into the country.
The government kick-started the rural industrialisation program which will see the drilling of at least one borehole in all of the country’s 35,000 villages.
This programme is expected to deliver in the water and sanitation commitment by the government to provide clean potable water for all communities.
This feeds into the “Leaving no one and no place behind” development mantra by the government.
The government during 2021 declared all roads in the country a state of disaster. This paved the way for government intervention in the repair, maintenance and construction of roads in urban centres.
Some major metropolitan areas such as Harare have benefited from the government’s Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) which has seen such roads as Seke, Masotsha Ndlovu and many others in Harare and Bulawayo being rehabilitated.
The government adopted water reticulation services in Victoria Falls City with the President pledging government commitment to supply pumping requirements that will see the city saying goodbye to water rationing.
In 2021 almost all rural and urban local authorities managed to procure either road making equipment, refuse collection trucks or drilled boreholes using evolution funds.
The government intensified and redefined disbursements for provincial development.
On June 9, 2021, President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the ground-breaking National Disability Policy.
The policy framework emphasises the inclusion of people living with disabilities (PWD’s in national activities and policy formulation. The deliberate policy has culminated in the election of Child President who is a person living with disabilities.
The country managed to harvest enough staple grains for national consumption.
Government upped its procurement and distribution of tillage and irrigation equipment to make full use of various dams that the President commissioned during the year.
The aim is to put enough hectarage under irrigation to climate proof the country’s agriculture.
More innovation hubs were introduced in tertiary institutions to encourage innovation and scientific creativity that can usher the country on the road to becoming a knowledge driven economy.
The country continued with the programme to procure more modern conventional buses for ZUPCO to improve urban transport and provide social safety nets to the underprivileged and the vulnerable societal groups.
This was complemented by a partnership between NRZ and ZUPCO for the provision of commuter train system for Harare and Bulawayo.
The landmark statue of Charwe Nyakasikana commonly known as Mbuya Nehanda was erected in Harare. This cultural project is very crucial as a embodiment of cultural preservation and celebration.
Power generation projects were prioritised in 2021 as evidenced by the progress made at the Hwange 7 and 8 expansion which is set to add 600MW to the national grid upon completion in September 2022.
Government is overseeing the development by Centragrid of a 25MW Solar Power plant in Nyabira just outside Harare. It is set to come online in 2022.
President Mnangagwa launched the Zimbabwe National Settlement Policy which is set to help address the national housing backlog.
He also launched the Marimba housing scheme and the Mpilo Hospital Doctors’ accommodation which comprises of modern flats which were built in record time following a fire accident which destroyed doctors accommodation.
In 2021 the Zimbabwean economy became the fastest growing in the region after registering 8 per cent GDP growth. This is at the back of improved agricultural productivity, improved industrial capacity utilisation which stands at about 67 per cent and improved investor confidence in such sectors as mining and agriculture.
To cap a very successful economic year, one of the year’s biggest economic transaction was concluded at State House on when Chinese Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt signed for a US$422 million transaction to buy 87 per cent holding of the Arcadia hard rock lithium mine from Australian Prospect Resources.
This is a game-changing investment in the country’s resources sector as lithium becomes a leading mineral component in the renewable energy sector.
Zimbabwe is set to become a strong competitor in the production of automotive and solar batteries.
Recent Comments