on Wednesday, said all the country’s provinces were having a fair share of construction programmes.
He expressed satisfaction with progress being made on the construction of the projects. He cited the Matabeleland projects that needed urgent attention as the Lupane registry, Lupane Government Complex,
Zimbabwe School of Mines, Mpilo Central Hospital mortuary, Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic in Gwanda and Lupane State University among others.
“We cannot say the level of construction progress justifies marginalisation because we have a number of unfinished projects countrywide,” said Minister Gabuza, the Member of Parliament for Binga South in a telephone interview with our Bulawayo Bureau recently.
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Although Matabeleland had a handful of unfinished projects, it had different needs compared to other regions.
“For instance, we have a lot of on-going projects in Lupane because it was declared the Matabeleland North provincial capital recently and Government moved in full swing to develop it.
“It cannot be therefore compared with Manicaland because their provincial capital was named a long time ago and their needs were addressed at that time,” said Minister Gabuza.
He said regions had different needs, which necessitated construction of different projects.
“Other provinces have fewer projects because they have fewer needs. As a ministry, we are quite happy with the progress of ongoing projects in the region, especially the completion of the Zimbabwe School of Mines where we have already received funding for it and is set for completion in the near future,” said Minister Gabuza.
He said there was capacity for the projects to be completed on time but the state of the economy was hampering progress.
“It is sad that most of our projects don’t get the continuous flow of funding and as a result most engineers that we have end up sitting as they have nothing to do,” said Minister Gabuza.
“We hope for a situation whereby they can fully utilise their potential for the good of the country as a whole.”
He said Mpilo Central Hospital was in need of about US$400 000 for the completion of its mortuary.
He said Lupane State University was part of four universities to benefit from the construction of halls of residence by the Government. He said other State universities to benefit were Bindura and Masvingo.
“We have also acquired the required material for the refurbishment of the Tredgold Magistrates’ Court and the works are about to begin. We are also working on refurbishing the Bulawayo Old Memorial complex and preparations are going on well.”