GOVERNMENT should complete outstanding projects like the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project that have been lying idle for a century before embarking on new ones, Victoria Falls residents told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget and Finance yesterday.Report by Wonai Masvingise, Senior Reporter in Victoria Falls The committee on a countrywide tour was in the resort town soliciting the public’s views on what they would want included in next year’s budget. A Victoria Falls resident said government should prioritise the Zambezi water project to save the region from severe water woes. “We would like the Ministry of Finance to seriously look into injecting funds for long-standing projects like the Zambezi Water Project to get the Gwayi-Shangani Dam functioning,” he said. This came as Water Resources minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo last month announced that China had committed $1,2 billion towards the project which will see water being drawn from the Zambezi River to Bulawayo, some 400km away. Victoria Falls council treasurer Thembinkosi Khumalo however said the government should focus on assisting the municipality in preparation for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly to be hosted in the resort town next year. “The budget should focus on work in progress, as you are aware, we as Victoria Falls are hosting the world next year. We have pleaded to government and we don’t want to fail,” Khumalo said. “Our plea is that we want the work in progress to be finished before we embark on new projects. There are projects which were started 10 years back, but we are starting on new projects. Talk of Tokwe Mukorsi, Lupane, it’s still outstanding. Let’s finish old projects because starting on new ones will strain our resources.”
‘Govt must finish outstanding projects’
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