Introduction
Role of infrastructure is crucial because it underpins development. It lays the base on which economic activities can take off from which then makes it clear that infrastructure provision is a prerequisite for economic development. Infrastructure unlocks economic prospects and promotes growth. Bulawayo is known for decades as an industrial hub. The City Of Bulawayo Public Transport Policy is the statutory planning document that sets out the Council’s vision, strategy and policies for transport. In line with the BCC’s vision of attaining Smart City Status by 2024 the City of Bulawayo will be investing in its transport sector so as to ensure it meets world class standards. Currently the transport system of Bulawayo is largely dominated by Commuter Omni- buses which has a virtual monopoly of the public transport sector, and have proven to be very unreliable
The Government has also recently reintroduced Zupco buses to service the city routes however like the Omni Buses they have proven to be largely unreliable BCC should strive to have own fleet of buses that will service all the city routes. The main thrust of have our own fleet is to create an efficient transport system.
The transport sector offers very promising investment avenues such as:
Investment in sustainable and environmentally, friendly buses and trams that run on gas and electricity. Investment in Public Transport Infrastructure such as Bus- stops ticketing systems Robots Development of Commercial Areas to augment the need for Bus Services.eg eGodini
Encourage investment in trams
Encourage cycling – utilise city wide roads.
Even though the number of industries in operation has drastically reduced, the number of people relocating to Bulawayo has not decreased, it has actually increased and this lead to investment opportunities such as follows:
Shopping malls
There is need to construct and build shopping malls in Eastern and Western Suburbs in order to decongest the central business district. For instance, Cowdray Park and Pumula South town-ships are just too big for the shops that are currently available and these shops are operating as general dealers hence have less variety of goods than what supermarkets, hypermarkets and superstores can offer. Shopping malls with multiple chain stores, supermarkets, and banking services will be very ideal, such as the Long Chen Plaza located in Belvedere, Harare. There is also need to include provision of leisure facilities for children on these malls.
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise hubs
A hub is a building that is divided into compartments that can be individually occupied for purposes of trading and even light industries such as tissue manufacturing. Every corner of the street has a vendor selling hence causing congestion within the walking pavements in the city of Bulawayo. Investing in MSME Hubs within the central business district and classify hubs according to activities of the MSMEs such as, arts and craft, clothing, vendors will ease way of doing business.
Commuter bus termini
The City’s network estimated at 2100km can be classified as Sealed, Gravel and Earth. The road network condition is very poor with more than 50% of the network requiring immediate heavy rehabilitation. There are investment opportunities in road and infrastructure sector. As it has been established, the City is pursuing its vision of achieving a Smart City Status therefore a huge investment is needed to upgrade the City’s road networks. Opportunities found in the road and infrastructure sector include, road rehabilitation and construction of road features such as bridges, flyovers, and sidewalks.
There is need for investment in commuter termini for both Eastern and Western suburbs of the Bulawayo Province. For instance, the eGodini Terminus there is no progress by those who were awarded the tender to construct the facility. Having Termini constructed, eases corner streets congestion where these commuter omnibus load, hence promoting economic development since this will come with employment, rates to City council and government gaining taxes. The commuter bus termini might have a basement and a shopping mall for quick returns to the investment.
Train buses and Metro buses.
The estimated population of Bulawayo Metro is about 0.735 million and there is urgent need to invest in an efficient and effective urban mass transport system to accommodate the increasing numbers of commuters. Already it is clear that the city’s transportation system is failing to cope, especially considering the level of congestion on city roads due to the use of minibuses. There are investment opportunities in reviving the urban commuter train system through provision of modern efficient buses and the re-introduction of large omnibuses that are timetable-based.
There is a huge gap when it comes to transport carrying people to and from suburbs. ZUPCO itself is overwhelmed in the provision of adequate transport. This is evidenced by long queues and time taken by commuters to reach their destinations. Time spent by workers in queues to get transport is production lost hence the need to invest in modern Train buses and Metro buses. These buses will operate under the ZUPCO franchise or otherwise. For instance replacing 18 seater commuter omnibuses with metro buses and train bus to service areas where there is large population such as Cowdray Park and Pumula.
Railway Network System
Bulawayo is where the headquarters of the National Railways of Zimbabwe are stationed, and it has an excellent railway line that link South Africa, Botswana (through Plumtree boarder post) and Zambia through Victoria Falls boarder post. There has been substantial deterioration in the railway network in the past decade. This emanated from the problems associated with infrastructure stemming from aging track, including insufficient ballast rail wear, deteriorating earthworks and rail signaling and communications with obsolete equipment and lack of spare parts. Investment will be needed in refurbishment of the existing railway system, investment into new locomotives and electrification of the railway system.
A local passenger train (commuter trains) that will be carrying people to and from town and the local train will be more viable if it operates from western suburbs to town where the population is high.
