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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
THE Victoria Falls City Council requires about US$250 million to construct a civic centre in the model of the Mandela Square in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Victoria Falls was conferred city status last December and has intensified plans to construct a civic centre.

The structure will have council offices, a hall for meetings and functions, a five-star hotel, a shopping mall with restaurants and a theme park or city square.

The facility will be developed on the piece of land where the council offices are located and stretch across Rest Camp.

The Rest Camp is leasing council land.

Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube said the municipality had already identified a local development partner through a Private-Public-Partnerships (PPPs) for the project although he could not be drawn into revealing the investor as the deal is still at non-disclosure stage.

He said the project is expected to commence within the next three years.

“We have plans to have a civic centre in the next three years. We have identified an investor for the land we are sitting on. The offices alone will cost US$6 million but the entire development will be US$250 million and it will be similar to Mandela Square in Johannesburg. It will be a mercurial civic centre and will be the epicentre of the city with council offices, a hall for meetings and functions, a five-star hotel and restaurants and city square,” said Mr Dube.

He said the local authority is doing administration work on the project.

Victoria Falls is Zimbabwe’s tourism capital.

The city’s upgrading buttresses Government plans to develop Greater Victoria Falls as a key component of transforming Matabeleland North province and the whole of Zimbabwe into an upper middle-income economy by year 2030.

Over the years there has been concern about shortage of office space in the resort town because of lack of investment in commercial buildings.

Most investors have been targeting tourism facilities resulting in limited office space in the central business district and some organisations are being forced to rent ordinary houses in residential areas which they are using as offices. — @ncubeleon