NDS Focus: The strides made so far
Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa
In 2018, during the very first Central Committee meeting of ZANU PF after the 2017 Extraordinary Congress which had seen him ascend to the post of President and First Secretary of the ruling party ZANU PF, President ED Mnangagwa made five pledges that will be a legacy to his Presidency
The five pledges would be the pillars on which first TSP and then NDS1 and NDS2, the economic blueprints guiding Government operations are centred on.
Below are two of the pledges and what they entail.
*Put job creation first*
Leveraging the huge investment wave to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in agriculture, mining, tourism, the service sectors and new infrastructure projects.
*Develop infrastructure worthy of the new Zimbabwe*
Increasing power generation capacity, constructing a new railway network system connecting all Provinces, towns and neighbouring countries and dualistic of major roads.
When the pledges were made, the world was not aware there was going to be Covid-19 and that world economies were going to be shut down but despite this, President Mnangagwa has achieved a lot in these very difficult times.
Among the infrastructure that has been completed are the New Parliament building in Mt Hampden.
The New Parliament is a state of the art new building which is a donation from the Chinese People’s Republic which is part of measures to decongest the Harare CBD.
On going projects which will and have uplifted people’s live and created employment include Ten major dams under construction are Kunzvi Dam, Lake Gwayi-Shangani, Semwa Dam, Silverstroom Dam, Vungu Dam, Ziminya Dam, Bindura Dam, Dande Dam, Chivhu Dam and Tuli-Manyange
The Gwaai-Shangani dam
Dam will include an approximate 242 kilometre water pipeline from the dam to Bulawayo with irrigation dams in between to create a 242 km greenbelt, a First of its kind in Africa.
The dam construction and pipeline have created employment and changed lives of people around the dam.
The planned Runde-Tende Dam will be two and half times bigger than Tugwi-Mukosi which is now the largest inland water body in Zimbabwe. This will create the largest greenbelt in Southern Africa.
Beitbridge Modern Border Post Phase 1 has been completed.
This includes a bus terminal, waiting rooms, port of entry and efficient all automated truck route.
Plans are afoot to construct 250 workers living quarters along with necessary amenities. This will see Beitbridge, Southern Africa’s busiest landborder and part of the North/South route meeting world standards.
The world-class Harare to Beitbridge road is 90% complete with many other roads across the provinces at various stages of completion, as President Mnangagwa implements the ‘leaving no one and no place behind’ mantra in changing live for the better in Zimbabwe.
Especially impressive is the fact that these roadworks are being undertaken using local resources and local contractors further improving the knowledge and skills gap of local contractors and creating further employment.
The Kilimanjaro Project in the Lowveld and other projects outside Hippo Valley and Triangel has seen an increase of 300 000 hectares sugacane and citrus farming for black farmers.
This has seen the locals enter fields traditionally closed to them in the Agricultural sector further empowering the communities around the areas.
The future of power generation and supply is bright as the US$1,4 bln Hwange Units 7 and 8 expansion project is nearing completion and would inject an additional 600MW, beginning with the first t unit commissioning set for November this year with the remainder coming on board in the first quarter of 2023.
This will see Zimbabwe meet its power needs and become a net power exporter.
Other power production projects include independent power producers from coal and also solar power plants which will feed into the national grid.
The Victoria Falls International Airport with direct flights from Europe, Asia and South Africa has seen an increase in direct visitors to Victoria Falls and other recreational parks in the region. This has been a boost in tourism which has been negatively impacted by the shutdown induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
On going work on the Robert Mugabe International Airport will be completed this year or in the first quarter next year. Other works include Kariba, Charles Prince and Buffalo Range which are on going or in the case of Buffalo Range and Charles Prince, completed and are now fully operational.
In mining we are aiming for a 12 billion dollar industry broken down as Platinum US$3 billion, gold US$4 billion, diamondUS$1 billion, coal US$1 billion, chrome, ferrochrome, and carbon steel US$1 billion, lithium: US$500 million and Other minerals:l US$1,5 billion.
The industry has already achieved a 6 billion dollar target this financial year.
In agriculture again, besides reaching food sufficiency, the country has become the third largest producer of tobacco in the world from being number 15 four years ago.
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