Cowdray Park outgrows Zimbabwe's major towns

Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has outlined an ambitious vision for the future of Cowdray Park, saying the rapidly growing Bulawayo suburb will require at least 30 additional schools and could eventually become large enough to warrant its own local authority.

Speaking during a visit to the western Bulawayo suburb, Professor Ncube described Cowdray Park as one of Zimbabwe's fastest-growing urban settlements, saying its expanding population was placing unprecedented pressure on public infrastructure and requiring a new approach to urban planning.

"Cowdray Park needs 30 more schools, 30," he said.

"It is bigger than Hwange, it is bigger than Gwanda. In the next few years, it will be just like another Chitungwiza in Bulawayo. It may be even needing its own local board."

The Finance Minister said the suburb had evolved into a major development frontier whose infrastructure needs now surpassed those of many established urban centres.

He said government was already supporting the expansion of education facilities by constructing additional classrooms at a local public school.

"We're supporting a school here, a public school. We're building classrooms, so that's what I'm going to do," he said.

Professor Ncube outlined a broader development agenda aimed at improving roads, water supply, sanitation, electricity and public safety, stressing that government wanted to ensure residents had access to adequate services as the settlement continued to expand.

"You appreciate the challenges that are here — the issues of road infrastructure, clean water. We worked hard to improve on clean water, the sewage system, and just the settlement of people the right way... We just want to make sure that people are well settled," he said.

He also announced plans to improve security in the suburb through the rehabilitation of high-mast lighting infrastructure.

"As I speak, in two weeks' time we'll have another programme working with the City Council to repair up to 50 tower lights to make sure that the place is well lit during the night and do away with robberies and theft," he said.

Professor Ncube urged policymakers to adopt a broader developmental approach to rapidly growing settlements such as Cowdray Park, saying conventional urban planning models were no longer sufficient to address their evolving needs.

"We need not just to treat them as urban areas, but there's a lot more we should do in a developmental sense," he said.

His remarks come as Cowdray Park continues to experience rapid population growth, increasing demand for schools, housing, roads, water infrastructure and other essential public services, placing mounting pressure on long-term urban planning and government investment.