The ManicaPost
Stephen Ephraem
AN old English adage says: “Rome was not built in a day”. The phrase is becoming synonymous with Checheche Growth Point residents who witnessed its transformation from a sleepy business centre in the 1980s to an urban “island” of this day.
Situated in the south eastern part of Zimbabwe, Chipinge District has four growth points, Checheche, Mawunganidze (near Birchenough Bridge), Daisy Hill and Glen View Park just outside Chipinge Town. Checheche is the biggest of all.
For new comers, Checheche is accessed using the Tanganda-Ngundu Highway. Throughout the years, the name Checheche has been overshadowed by Chisumbanje. Early Geography books and maps referred to Chisumbanje as the main civic centre in the area where Checheche is now popping up.
Checheche and Chisumbanje are separated by 9km. Checheche is 87km from Tanganda and 89km from Chiredzi town. All road signs on the Tanganda-Ngundu Highway refer to Chisumbanje that a traveller from Chiredzi should add 9km and the one from Tanganda lessen 9km in order to correctly position him/herself from Checheche.
Gazetted by Government in 1982, the initial Checheche Growth Point had a total of 1 055hectares. Since its gazetting, people had little to no faith on its expansion. In fact, Chisumbanje was the place to be. Even when Checheche medium-density residential stands were selling for a mere $5 in 1992, most people remained loyal to Chisumbanje.
It was at the turn of the millennium that the wind turned towards Checheche. The cotton industry helped the centre’s prop up. At its peak, 10 cotton companies established their administrative offices and depots at the growth point. One cotton company, Parrogate Investments went a step further by establishing a cotton ginnery there.
Now a total 775ha of the old Checheche have been developed leaving a balance of 280ha undeveloped. Although the growth point is fast becoming a business hub, boasting of three commercial banks, it was the industrial area that was left wanting. Industrial stands were allocated in a low-density area. Residents started to wonder if this would attract more industries.
In an interview, Chipinge Rural District Council chief executive officer, Mr Blessing Mamvosha, said: “Our council is operating on a meagre budget of $2.5 million per year. This is little to undertake major and meaningful projects in the whole district. As guardians of State land, we operate under Government guidelines. Right now our Government is calling for Public Private Partnerships for the development of the country.”
On the issue of Checheche industrial expansion, Mr Mamvosha admitted that the old industrial stand allocation didn’t live up to its billing, but was quick to point out that the issue had been rectified in a new plan.
Said Mr Mamvosha: “The coming of Green Fuel’s ethanol plant at Chisumbanje made everyone excited and we had to plan a new Checheche. The industrial area has been well planned. It shall be situated on land towards Save River. I no longer call Checheche a growth point, but a new ‘city.’ Let me show you the plan.”
As he was showing us the features of the new “city,” the CEO revealed that the RDC entered into a PPP with five private players to develop 3 500 residential stands for new Checheche. The council has injected $152 000 for consultancy on Turk survey, environmental impact assessment, layout plan and cadastral survey (pegging) for 1 038ha out of the 1 148ha earmarked for new Checheche.
“The new ‘city’ comprises of high, medium and low density residential stands as well as commercial and industrial stands. Schools, health centres, a town centre, a civic park, two police posts, markets, bus terminus, Government offices and churches are earmarked in the new setting. Council shall retain 25 percent of the developed stands and the balance shall be sold by the private players to recover costs incurred on servicing water and sewage system, electrification and roads networks,” concluded Mr Mamvosha.
By end of day, the old and new Checheche ‘city’ shall be 2 203ha in total.
