News / Local
Devolution important -Mashakada
01 Mar 2017 at 05:36hrs | Views
MDC -T official Tapiwa Mashakada has said devolution is very important for the country's all areas to benefit from their resources.
He said devolution has got so many important dimensions attached to it.
"I am naturally interested in the economic benefits. One way to look at devolution of development is to consider the possibilities of creating provincial growth nodes. Each province is given a mandate to pursue its development path by looking for investors who can help set up businesses in a sector where that province has a comparative advantage," he said.
"Half of the proceeds will go to the national treasury and the rest is retained and reinvested in the provincial infrastructure. The provincial government will determine such projects. Example - each of the 8 provinces excluding Harare and Bulawayo has a comparative advantage on one natural resource or another. Mat North can choose coal or tourism or hard wood as its nodal resource."
He said Mat South (say citrus or phosphate or gold) Masvingo ( human capital) Midlands ( chrome and iron ore) Manicaland ( timber or diamonds) Mash Central (nickel, maize) Mash east (tobacco) Mash west(gold, maize,tobacco) etc. These resources will spearhead nodal growth for the regions.
Mashakada said at the end of the day there is balanced economic development.
"Look at the Marange diamonds and how Manicaland is underdeveloped? In some countries civil war is ignited by unbalanced development and in Zimbabwe we must avoid that. I am worried by the bambazonke development model that is centralized in Harare. I could write a book on how Harare underdeveloped Zimbabwe. After all we must all think outside the box and see what best development model Zimbabwe can chart in the next 30 years. Vision 2050. Without a vision countries perish. Devolution makes sense only with economic benefits to regions. Its all about nodal growth which is inclusive," he said.
He said devolution has got so many important dimensions attached to it.
"I am naturally interested in the economic benefits. One way to look at devolution of development is to consider the possibilities of creating provincial growth nodes. Each province is given a mandate to pursue its development path by looking for investors who can help set up businesses in a sector where that province has a comparative advantage," he said.
"Half of the proceeds will go to the national treasury and the rest is retained and reinvested in the provincial infrastructure. The provincial government will determine such projects. Example - each of the 8 provinces excluding Harare and Bulawayo has a comparative advantage on one natural resource or another. Mat North can choose coal or tourism or hard wood as its nodal resource."
He said Mat South (say citrus or phosphate or gold) Masvingo ( human capital) Midlands ( chrome and iron ore) Manicaland ( timber or diamonds) Mash Central (nickel, maize) Mash east (tobacco) Mash west(gold, maize,tobacco) etc. These resources will spearhead nodal growth for the regions.
Mashakada said at the end of the day there is balanced economic development.
"Look at the Marange diamonds and how Manicaland is underdeveloped? In some countries civil war is ignited by unbalanced development and in Zimbabwe we must avoid that. I am worried by the bambazonke development model that is centralized in Harare. I could write a book on how Harare underdeveloped Zimbabwe. After all we must all think outside the box and see what best development model Zimbabwe can chart in the next 30 years. Vision 2050. Without a vision countries perish. Devolution makes sense only with economic benefits to regions. Its all about nodal growth which is inclusive," he said.
Source - Byo24News
