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Tendai Mugabe, Harare Bureau
President Mnangagwa says he will appoint the Minister of State for Harare Metropolitan province this week.

The Metropolitan province did not have a Minister of State since last year when President Mnangagwa appointed his new Cabinet.

Cde Mirriam Chikukwa was the last Minister of State for Harare.

Addressing a Meet the People rally at Rutenga Business Centre in Mwenezi on Saturday, President Mnangagwa said provinces should now compete to develop their economies in line with devolution.

“We now want to have rural economies, devolution,” said President Mnangagwa.

“I told all the 10 Ministers of State that they should compete. Here you have Cde (Ezra) Chadzamira, in Manicaland there is Mai (Ellen) Gwaradzimba, in Mashonaland East there is Mai (Apollonia) Munzverengi, in Mashonaland Central there is Mai (Monica) Mavhunga, in Mashonaland West there is Mai (Mary) Mliswa, in Midlands there is Cde (Larry) Mavima, in Matabeleland South there is Cde (Abednico) Ncube, in Matabeleland North we have Cde (Richard) Moyo, in Bulawayo we have Mai (Judith) Ncube and in Harare we are going to announce next week who will represent the province.

In all these provinces we are saying provinces should no longer look to Harare for everything. We want each and every province to have its economy and its GDP.

“Like Masvingo you should look at the resources that you have and see how Government should assist you to develop,” he said.

“You heard your Minister Cde Chadzamira saying you are blessed because you have more dams here compared to other provinces. Tokwe- Mukosi is now complete and it will generate electricity. When the master plan is completed, there will be 25 000 hectares of irrigation for the people of Masvingo. There is another dam along Runde River on our programme.”

Cde Mnangagwa said Government was now going to fund the construction of the dam alone.

The President took time to explain progress made on the dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge road and plans that Government had with regards to the refurbishment of the railway line from Maputo, Mozambique.

He said plans were afoot to refurbish the railway line from Chikwalakwala up to Gweru. And it would also branch from Mwenezi to Masvingo.

President Mnangagwa said he would look into the request made by the people of Mwenezi for the introduction of a local passenger train in Masvingo to hedge against high costs of transport.

He said the Presidential Input Scheme would remain in place and the budget had been increased to ensure that more people benefit from the programme.