By Ndumiso Tshuma
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has promised to prioritise smaller business enterprises by providing them with facilities that have attractive venues and can protect their produce from the elements.
Speaking at the inaugural “call to action” Bulawayo local authority meeting with stakeholders held at the Small City Hall on Tuesday, Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart stated, “It is critically important that we focus on smaller enterprises and provide them with facilities with attractive venues that are also attractive to themselves, attractive to single mothers and their children, and [that] protect their products from the sun, rain, and heat. In this way, we give them a dignified area to operate in and enable them to have a dignified life as well.”
The Mayor further stated that their plan is to set up four markets in the coming years with modern facilities.
“Our vision is to set up four markets surrounding the central business district with a roof ridge that fully covers these markets, with proper concrete floors, with solar lighting, with Wi-Fi which is critical for informal trading, with adequate water and power connections, and decent toilets,” said Coltart.
The Mayor stated that the call to action for service delivery in Bulawayo does not intend to stop at Egodini Taxi Rank, as the development of another taxi rank at 2nd Avenue Lobengula Street has already begun.
“We do not intend to stop at Egodini Taxi Rank, and we have already begun development at 2nd Avenue Lobengula Street, where we have cleared the area, and a concrete foundation has already been laid,” said Coltart.
The Mayor expressed their vision that, in the coming years, Egodini Taxi Rank and 2nd Avenue Lobengula Street should be completed.
“Our vision for the next few years is to complete Egodini, develop 2nd Avenue Lobengula Street, so that we restore sanity to the central business district, so that those involved in the formal sector who own those buildings can then run their businesses freely without the chaos that we see today,” remarked Coltart.
The local authority is in the process of fomalising the operations of informal traders by allocating them vending bays in the city centre and the recently opened Egodini Taxi Rank.
