AT least 150 people are set to benefit from the construction of Empumalanga Flea Market in Hwange, at an estimated cost of $60 million with work having started in earnest.
Hwange Local Board (HLB) said the flea market which would consist of more than 150 stalls, a food court, and a kiosk as well as ablution facilities was expected to be completed before the end of April. HLB acting Town Secretary, Mr Paul Mabhureni said the project was being undertaken through utilisation of the devolution funds in-line with Government’s call for local authorities to channel resources from the facility towards high-impact projects.
“A survey carried out by HLB in its area of jurisdiction shows that at least one in every three households is involved in informal trading, thus depriving council of the much-needed revenue ought to be realised from licensing these individuals. The flea market project will significantly contribute to Council’s revenue directly and indirectly.”
Mr Mabhureni said directly the flea market was significant in the sense that the vendors would pay for the use of the vending bays. Indirectly, he said, it would create employment for plus or minus 150 people with properties in Hwange who they expect to pay rates from the income realised from their businesses.
“Despite the fact that an estimated 80 percent of the adult population in Hwange urban is employed in the mining, energy and tourism sector as well as in the public service, others eke out a living from the informal sector,” he said.
He added that it was important that HLB harness the potential of informal sector activities, even if they were often invisible in official statistics to improve on revenue generation and employment creation at local level. Mr Mabhureni said beneficiaries of stalls would be drawn from those that would have applied with priority being given to those that were operating from undesignated areas as they sought to ensure that they provide people with convenient workspaces.
Through utilisation of the devolution funds from government, he said, council managed to put a perimeter fence around Empumalanga Clinic, installed a water reservoir as well as constructed a medical incinerator at the primary healthcare facility.
It has also constructed a state-of-the-art Early Childhood Development (ECD) block at Nechibondo Primary School and bought a tipper truck and a tractor.
Meanwhile, FBC Building Society has started preliminary works to construct 764 houses and a block of flats under the Empumalanga Phase Six housing scheme which will offset the town’s 4 000 housing waiting list. The financial institution and HLB signed an agreement in 2018 to kick-start the project.
FBC Building Society bought land that will have 764 houses and a block of flats, a school, a district commercial mall, a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) industrial site, two crèche stands as well as three church stands.
The FBC Building Society’s group marketing and public relations head, Ms Anne Mabuto, said recently the financial institution considers Hwange a strategic mining and tourist site which would be the hub of economic growth for Matabeleland North Province. She also said the town was also within strategic distance to Victoria Falls. – Sunday News
