THE Gweru City Council’s plans to turn its aerodrome into an airport have stalled due to delays at the Deeds Office, Southern Eye has established.
Speaking at a recent 2024 budget review meeting, assistant finance director Owen Masimba said once the Deeds Office finishes the required paperwork the local authority would resume the project as it had already identified a partner.
Early this year, the council announced that it had identified a private partner for the commencement of the airport project, a move expected to boost development in the Midlands capital.
The project is part of the many ventures the council has lined up as part of the city’s business growth.
“The [airport] project has stalled for a while due to delays by the Deeds Office in processing deeds of donation and registration of notarised lease,” he said.
Meanwhile, Masimba said the council expected Go Beer Breweries to be operational by the end of next month.
“The plans to resuscitate the brewery is approximately at 85%. Major works and maintenance have been completed and the brewery is expected to be up by November 2024,” Masimba said.
He said the local authority was up-scaling farming activities at both Cambridgeshire and Golden Ridge Estates and that plans were underway to put 100 hectares for the supply of raw materials to the brewery.
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Meanwhile, Gweru United Residents and Ratepayers Association Trust director David Chikore, however, said the push for council's business ventures to enhance its revenue streams should be expedited to lessen the burden on ratepayers.
“There is a need to speed up income-generating projects so that the council does not over rely on ratepayers for revenue,” he said.
Council is owed ZiG161,8 million by debtors and mainly relies on rates for its operations.
