Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
The delay by Zimbabwe in constructing infrastructure such as roads, sewer among other preliminary civil works have stalled the construction of a state-of-the-art Parliament building at Mount Hampden by the Chinese government, a visiting official has said.
Construction of the Parliament building was part of several mega deals signed between Zimbabwe and China when President Mugabe went on a State visit to Beijing in August 2014.
His counterpart, Mr Xi Jinping, followed up to seal the deals in December last year.
National committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairperson of Foreign Affairs Committee Mr Pan Yunhe said there were a few issues related to civil works that they were waiting to be done by Zimbabwe in terms of the agreement before they could move in.
Mr Pan, who was leading a Chinese delegation said this during a meeting held with Senate President Cde Edna Madzongwe and, members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs led by Makonde MP, Cde Kindness Paradza (Zanu-PF) at Parliament building in Harare yesterday.
“The new Parliament building is beautifully designed. I am an architect (by profession.) There are three things that we are waiting for: the roads, electricity and water,” said Mr Pan.
The Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Huang Ping, who was also present said it was up to the leadership of Parliament to liaise with their counterparts in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to ensure the speedy implementation of the work.
“We have held meetings with the ministry, and we do not know when that will be completed. You can help to push them,” said Mr Huang.
The Clerk of Parliament, Mr Kennedy Chokuda, said they were expecting to raise the issue with Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere today.
“The Minister is coming to our meeting of Standing Rules and Orders Committee. We hope to get an update from that meeting,” said Mr Chokuda.
Cde Madzongwe assured the Chinese delegation that they would work to address the issues so that construction of the building could begin.
The construction of a new parliament building is expected to ease space constraints for legislators particularly those in the National Assembly, whose number was no longer consistent with its capacity, following the increase in the number of legislators.
The current capacity is about 150, but there are 270 legislators, while the new parliament building would have a carrying capacity of 500 legislators.
During yesterday’s meeting, Mr Pan explained how China transformed itself into an economic powerhouse in the past three decades.
He said one of the policies was to open up China to other countries and increase cooperation with all nations including Africa.