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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

MOTORISTS, tourism players included, will from tomorrow, 1 April, start paying US$5 per vehicle per day to use the car park next to the entrance of the Victoria Falls Rainforest after the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) who own the land, leased the property.

NRZ leased out idle land including the existing car park in Victoria Falls for development into eco-tourism properties and businesses.

This will be the first car park to have pre-paid parking system in Victoria Falls.

The car park is currently used largely by tourism players’ transfer vehicles and buses carrying tourists to the Rainforest and Victoria Falls Bridge, and hundreds of curio and souvenirs vendors, and dance groups also operate within the premises.

NRZ owns significant amounts of land in and around Victoria Falls City and has leased some to hotels, tour operators, property developers and individuals who have ventured into various kinds of businesses.

One of the leases is Across Zimbabwe Private Limited, an indigenous company formed in 2016 with interests in the lower tourism value chain where it is working with curio vendors.

The company was offered a five-year lease to operate the pre-paid car park and a nearby recreational park.

Responding to questions, NRZ spokesperson Mr Andrew Kunambura said the leases are valid for five years.

He could not be drawn into revealing other beneficiaries, but the Chronicle understands two big tour operators and a property developer have been offered land near the gorges.

“As railways the thrust is to grow the real estates’ portfolio and in this regard we have been leasing out land that has been lying idle for a long time. We have seen people applying to lease land and as a result they are developing it into eco-tourism and some are developing tourism tents for their clients,” he said.

He said the leases being issued are five year leases renewable subject to the lessee paying diligently on the agreed rental among other conditions.

Victoria Falls was designated a Special Economic Zone and Government wants to make the city its conference capital with state-of-the-art facilities and products and activities that meet international best tourism standards to make Victoria Falls a destination of choice.

Cabinet recently approved the implementation of the Masuwe Special Economic Zone project following a feasibility study that found the scheme to be highly profitable.

Masuwe is a piece of land 10km outside Victoria Falls city and is earmarked for development into a new satellite city for the Victoria Falls.

“Across Zimbabwe is one of our clients who have applied for land and wants to do eco-tourism at the park. They also want to preserve the park and keep it as natural as possible,” said Mr Kunambura.

In an interview, Across Zimbabwe Pvt Ltd director Mr Mathew Muleya said vendors will not be evicted from the car park.

He said the company’s objective is to empower citizens with income generating projects.

“We have been leased the Victoria Falls Rainforest car park by NRZ and from April 1, 2023 the car park will be a pre-paid parking zone charged US$5 per vehicle for the whole day,” said Mr Muleya.

“People will not be evicted. This is a business and if we remove those operating there how will we make money and how will the people benefit. It’s only in Victoria Falls where we don’t have pre-paid parking and we are just introducing a concept that is inevitable.”

He said part of the money that will be generated from the car park will be ploughed into pristine Victoria Falls activities and community programmes such as taking care of the elderly at the Old People’s Home.

Mr Mulaye said Across Zimbabwe has also started sprucing up the image of the premises which will see new shops being built for convenience of tourists.

He said Across Zimbabwe aims to promote youths and the elderly in the city of Victoria Falls through employment creation.

“That land should benefit ordinary citizens and we look forward to create space for youths at the car park where they can sell their wares. We have 120 curio vendors operating under Across Zimbabwe at the Big Tree where we are working on repairing the shade and we are also engaging the Victoria Falls City Council to allocate alternative land to vendors that operate illegally at Comesa Market as it is our aim to protect their interests.

Mr Muleya said Across Zimbabwe also supports vendors operating at Truck Stop and has helped the local authority clear illegal vendors form the streets.

He said efforts are being made to engage tour operators on implementation of the pre-paid parking systems.

Employers Association for the Tourism and Safari Operators president Mr Clement Mukwasi said the industry is not opposed to the pre-paid parking system as long as there is clarity on operational issues.

He said tour operating companies would be comfortable with paying over a certain period of time such as quarterly or half yearly. – @ncubeleon