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ZimParks gives Vic Falls land for 900 stands

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THE Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority Management ( ZimParks) has given Victoria Falls Municipality the green light to develop 900 residential stands in the game park’s buffer zone.

THE Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority Management ( ZimParks) has given Victoria Falls Municipality the green light to develop 900 residential stands in the game park’s buffer zone.

By Nokuthaba Dlamini

Council town planner, Ntombizami Ncube confirmed the new development during a recent full council meeting.

“We engaged Zimparks to allow us to acquire land in the buffer zone, although that has been a hard process, through the consultations they have given us the consent to develop 900 stands for our people who do not have homes…Parks said they were concerned about litter and need for council to put up a wall separating parks area and residents to avoid human and animal conflicts and we have complied with their condition,” she said.

“We now need to move forward to look for tenders … or expression of interest from willing developers.”

The latest acquisition came after council confirmed that it had run out of land for residential stands after entering into a $12 million deal with CBZ Bank in 2016 to service land for over 1 000 residents.

After the deal, residents have been at loggerheads with the local authority, accusing it of disregarding the official waiting list by allocating stands to outsiders.

This led to, councillors deciding to give priority to aggrieved homeseekers when allocating the new stands.

“We appreciate what you have done for our people, but let me request that all the 900 stands be given to those deserving beneficiaries that lost in CBZ Bank deal,”councillor Somvelo Dhlamini said.

In the previous meeting, deputy mayor Norris Nyathi admitted that they had let the residents down.

To keep the environment litter free, council also resolved to launch a zero tolerance to litter campaign, where all council workers will be cleaning town surroundings every last Friday of the month.