BULAWAYO – Construction of Egodini Mall – Bulawayo’s biggest infrastructure development in 24 years – has officially begun with the launch last Friday of the project’s contact centre, which will serve as a liaison office for subcontractors and casual workers.

The contact centre is situated at the corner of Lobengula Street and 8th Avenue Extension.

Tearracotta Director, Thulani Moyo, said the centre was a testimony to Bulawayo residents that Egodini project was on course and that jobs would be sourced locally.

“When we expressed interest to embark on this project, the community emphasised to us that jobs must benefit the locals first otherwise it would be of no use to Bulawayo,” he said at a commissioning event also attended by Bulawayo City Council officials.

“The city council also expressed concern that local business must be contracted as well to provide services and this contact centre does just that.”

Moyo said the contact centre would handle both job seekers and service providers.

“People must be able to register and their information entered on the job database. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed to that effect. This is a community driven project and it doesn’t belong to Tearracotta but to Bulawayo. The land we are developing is owned by the city council.

“We are not paid by the council but we are mobilising investment for the people. We had also committed that at least 10 percent of the shareholding of the project must belong to locals who could also participate and that will be done once all is in order,” Moyo said.

The contact centre opens on Monday and will serve about 200 to 300 people a day who will be offered tickets to register for that day.

Those without tickets would be given an opportunity to come the next day.

“We will in the following days explain how it will work, we are hopeful everything will come right. Tearracotta is a developer not a contractor, the contractor is Liviero, a Bulawayo company now based in South Africa and it’s in the business of construction management,” said Moyo.

He added that Liviero would put out work packages that will be explained to those registered on the database.

“Because of that, you won’t see a tender on the newspaper so you have to be registered on the system. Phase one will be done by November 2019 so that shops can be opened before the festive holiday,” he said.

Bulawayo Mayor, Solomon Mguni, hailed the project for enhancing the city’s public transport and urban renewal action.

“The double pronged approach will change the city and this is a game changer. Bulawayo will never be the same again. The project was a deliberate initiative of the city council guided by the statutory plans,” said Mguni.

“In 2012, council called out for an expression of interest and number of companies applied. Through careful diligence Terracotta emerged tops as it shared a similar vision to the city. This will develop Bulawayo into a leader of local governance with a vibrant economy by 2020.”

Judith Ncube, the Minister of State for Bulawayo, said: “This is in line with government’s progranmme to renew urban areas and revive historical sites.

“If revamped, I see a good picture that will bring respect to the city. Credit should go to the people of Bulawayo who have vison of development.”

The last major development in the city was the construction of Bulawayo Centre, the city’s only shopping mall, which began in 1994.