Tourism minister Walter Mzembi stunned Parliament last week after he admitted he had not yet decided on where the business centre meant to host traders during the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) 20th Session General Assembly would be built.
Mzembi made the disclosure after Hwange West MP Gift Mabhena quizzed him on whether they had identified a suitable site for the trade centre for the international conference set for Victoria Falls in October next year.
To date, three sites have been set aside with government and key stakeholders yet to make a final decision.
Mabhena’s question came after Mzembi had presented a ministerial statement telling MPs, preparations for the tourism conference were at an advanced stage with 1 200 hectares of land earmarked for shopping malls, casinos, a tourism theme park and other infrastructural projects being targeted.
“I would like to applaud the minister for recognising the importance of promoting the locality of Victoria Falls so that they benefit from the project,” Mabhena said.
“However, my question is there have been three different sites concerning this project and we do not know the exact site where it is going to be placed because one of the site mentioned is the area along the Kilo market and then there was another area down the Livingstone lodge.”
Mzembi said he was still waiting for the Victoria Falls community to direct the ministry on the way forward.
“At the beginning, we had more than 10 sites, but I cannot answer now on issues that are in the closed discussions of local communities and that are now the subject of environmental impact assessments. That question would best be answered by technocrats,” Mzembi said.
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According to the tourism minister, the project is worth $1 billion and the UNWTO Victoria Falls conference will be attended by delegates from 186 countries, industry representatives and over 400 international journalists.
