By Evans Dakwa
Beitbridge Rural District Council (BRDC) is forging ahead with implementing the Presidential call to action, a blueprint guiding the operations of local authorities towards modernising their operations and propelling them towards Vision 2030.
The RDC held a Master plan Stakeholders Meeting today where the Lead Planner, Phinias Tafa, took stakeholders inclusive of Chiefs, the DA, government ministries and departments through the inception report and steps to be taken in coming up with the Masterplan and the time lines for deliverables within the plan.
“The preparation of this Master plan is in accordance with the Regional Town and Country Planning Act and the Presidential call to action, what the President is trying to achieve is basically service delivery, and this starts at the base level which is the local authority, that is where water, social amenities and refuse is collected,” said Lead Planner Tafa.
Coming up with a masterplan will enable the BRDC to have a guide to the district’s planning, growth and development. It serves as the foundation for good land use planning and land use regulations that will surely help ameliorating the chronic problem of land Barons afflicting the country.
“The process of coming up with the Master plan is an intensive process, its highly participatory, the MDAs,the ministries, the departments, we also go to the political leadership and the general citizens, everyone must vent what they want in the district, all the various interests must be represented in coming up with the plan, this means that when Beitbridge does not develop, it’s not because of the CEO and his council, the councillors, the minister, the general populace, it’s because of all of us as a collective ” highlighted Tafa.
The meeting also laid out principles of the persons to be part of the key steering and technical committees made up of people who will drive the process and provide the technical expertise needed for the process.
The steering will be represented by persons coming from the following sectors; custom and tradition, Agriculture, immigration, security, local governance, social services, business, farmers, religion, tourism, mining and commercial farmers, politics, infrastructure ministries, EMA and the media.
On the other hand the technical committee will comprise of persons with Geology and Survey, RDC, planners, transport, environment, security, and agriculture and development economics experts.
Beitbridge District Administrator Sikhangezile Mafu applauded the various stakeholders for taking their time to attend the meeting saying it is a sacrifice for the District.
“We cannot achieve without planning, for the rural populace of Beitbridge, this master of plans is very key for the development of Beitbridge, it is our first deliverable in response to the President’s call to action. What we want to realise as a district is to have that upper middle income economy by 2030, she said.