TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
Government has set aside resources for infrastructure projects in Bulawayo and Matabeleland region to transform their provinces in line with the National Development Strategy, Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube has said.
Speaking during a virtual Confederation of Zimbabwe Industry Matabeleland Annual Business meeting, Ncube the government, local authorities and private sector should work together in a bid to push the GDP growth upwards.
Matabeleland has three provinces namely Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South.
We want the economies of Bulawayo and Matabeleland region to grow. In terms of GDP, Bulawayo at the moment is at US$2.5bn and per capita is US$3000 per person.
Looking at the key areas of that GDP contribution the largest sector is obviously the manufacturing sector as Bulawayo, wholesale and retail sectors including motor vehicle and motorcycle repairs are standouts as the largest sectors,” Ncube said.
He added: “Th e education sector where we are looking at schools, universities , higher and tertiary, the transport sector, the hotel industry, information and communication and public administration institutions contribute to the GDP of Bulawayo,” he said.
Ncube said infrastructure projects to be include roads, hospitals, housing and schools among others.
He said the GDP of Matabeleland North was lower than Bulawayo.
Its GDP, he said, was between US$1.2bn and US$1.5bn. The GDP per capita was US$1400.
The biggest contributors were agriculture and forest, mining and quarry are quite large contributors and the impact of electricity production, public administration, the hotel sector.
Ncube said Matabeleland South has the lowest GDP as compared to Bulawayo and Matabeleland North.
“Matabeleland South’s GDP is US$950m and the GDP Per capita is US$1 200. Th e largest contributors, he said, were agriculture, hunting and forestry.
Th e mining sector was not as strong as it was in Matabeleland North.
However, the public administration, human health and social welfare activities were quite strong in the province.
“Our target is to grow the GDP per capita to about US$3500 in 2030 but we need to go together with the government, local authorities with their respective ministers and the private sector that is operating
in those regions all hands on deck for us to push that GDP growth upwards,” Ncube said.
Treasury, Ncube said, has allocated ZWL $19.5 bn in devolution funds to the three provinces and the funds will be distributed across local authorities, “he said.
He said the Government was committed to bringing development to communities and devolution funds must be used for constructing roads, building schools, health delivery as well as attending to water and sewer reticulation issues, health delivery among other issues that affect people.
Th ere should be a notable diff erence in projects being done by the local authorities.
“Rationally we have allocated ZWL$19.5bn for devolution and we have managed to allocate a sizable amount to the three provinces.
“As a government we have said that this year we expect growth of about 7.4 %. You have seen the IMF increase its growth to 6%, the World Bank is still sitting at about 4%and the African bank is just above that figure.
“But the message is one of recovering, one of strong growth, you will see Zimbabwe basically do better than the other African countries on our continent,” he said .
