GOVERNMENT has expressed concern over Bulawayo City Council’s (BCC) failure to reopen Egodini Mall and Terminus for informal traders and transporters.
Early last month, Bulawayo councillors declared that Egodini will be partially opened by mid-February for vendors and transporters.
Terracotta Trading Private Limited (TTPL) won the tender in 2015, but nothing much has been done on site.
The failure to reopen Egodini for informal traders and transport sectors has been blamed for the chaos in the city centre.
This week giant retail clothing company, Edgars Stores Limited, said it was closing one of its branches in Bulawayo citing the need to secure an alternative location that suits its brand expectation, amid pressure from illegal forex dealers and vendors.
Popularly known as “Edgars Tredgold” due to its proximity to the Tredgold Building, which houses the Magistrates Court, the closed branch was situated at the corner of Herbert Chitepo Street and Leopold Takawira Avenue in the city centre, which is now a hive of activity for vendors, pirate kombi crews and illegal forex dealers.
The road along Herbert Chitepo Street between 6th and Leopold Takawira Avenue has become unsuitable for business as vendors and kombi crews have occupied the area.
Bulawayo deputy mayor Councillor Mlandu Ncube said Egodini could not be opened as previously announced by mid-February as the contractor has not finalised the required work for informal traders and transporters to move in.
“We are engaging the contractor as we expect informal traders to start occupying the bays soon. However, I want to state that some of the vendors operating in the city are just operating illegally, especially those who operate along 5th Avenue they have nothing to do with Egodini,” said Clr Ncube.
Council last week embarked on raids on illegal vendors with the skirmishes resulting in three people being injured as they tried to resist the council’s operation.
Permanent secretary for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Mr Paul Nyoni said the continuous failure to reopen Egodini for the informal sector and transporters proves council’s incompetence in terms of project management.
He said it does not make sense that council is consistently coming up with deadlines for the project but fails to implement resolutions.
“Some of the problems occurring along 6th Avenue started when the council temporarily relocated vendors who were operating at Egodini when it closed. Along the way, the areas started also being occupied by illegal vendors. But if Egodini had been completed it would have accommodated about 1 000 informal traders. This would have addressed some of the challenges that are happening in the city at the moment. We have seen the council coming up with cycles of promises for the reopening of Egodini but these dates lapse with no action,” he said.
Mr Nyoni said failure to manage contracted companies is a concern for the city.
“We are worried by the project management capacity of the city. These are contracts that the council would have awarded but it is failing to manage them. Egodini project is not the only contract that the council has awarded and has not implemented. We have vending bays at the corner of Masotsha and Lobengula Street. The council allocated a contract which is more than 10 years now but the contractor has not done anything within the same period. We wonder what happens when the council has come to an agreement with a contractor,” said Mr Nyoni.
He said council also allocated a stand for the development of a rank for long distance transporters near 15th Avenue but for years nothing took place until recently when concerns were raised over the project.
Mr Nyoni said council should take a firm stand in the management of projects as opposed to having contractors dragging when it comes to project implementation. – The Chronicle
