MUTARE — Council has finally agreed to the handover Meikles Park land to Anjin Investments for the construction of a 14 storey hotel and shopping mall, more than two years after the deal was mooted.
In terms of the agreement, the city fathers will handover Meikles Park situated between Robert Mugabe Avenue, 4th Street and B Avenue to government, which will in turn transfer the land to the Chinese company.
In return, the local authority will receive unprocessed state land measuring 188 000 hectares from government, stretching from Dangamvura Link Road to Fern Valley, which would be transformed into a satellite central business district (CBD).
Anjin is expected to complete construction of both the hotel and shopping complex within a year once the land has been transferred into its hands.This would become one of the biggest construction projects in the city that would augment Mutare’s infrastructural stock while creating fresh jobs.
It is still not clear how the government would benefit from the transaction after giving its land to council to facilitate the Anjin deal.
The Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, in which government is the sole shareholder, has a stake in Anjin.
Anjin has, however, courted the ire of Treasury in the past. Treasury accuses the Chinese company of not remitting revenue to the state.
Anjin first approached council with the offer in 2010 but the deal could not be consummated due to disagreements over valuation.
Councillors had put a market value of US$1,7 million on the prime land, way above the US$700 000 that had been reached by council management. Officials at the Local Government Ministry were also claiming that the land was only worth US$160 000.
Due to the sharp differences, Anjin had shifted its attention elsewhere.
In Harare, they are constructing a five star hotel while their workshop in Mutare has been transformed into a three star hotel called Golden Peacock Villa Hotel. The deal was only revisited after Manicaland provincial administrator, Fungai Mbetsa suggested the land swap deal.
The Ministry of Local Government has since issued a notice to give effect to the transaction. Town clerk, Obert Muzawazi, confirmed the development this week saying council approved the deal after carefully considering its benefits to the city.
“Anjin Investments will build a 14 storey hotel and complex at Meikles Park, which council agreed to by approving the land swap deal. The government has offered us in return, state land in Fern Valley, which is about 188 000 hectares,” he said.
“We will use it to build a satellite CBD. This land would be offered to black business people with interests in venturing into property ownership there (satellite CBD.)
“The other reason is that the complex will create employment for many of our unemployed youths. It will also provide business to up and downstream service providers thereby boosting business in Mutare,” he said.
However, there are some sections of the Mutare community that are already throwing spanners into the deal. The Combined Mutare Residents and Rate-payers Trust has petitioned the local authority questioning its motive in handing over the Meikles Park land to government.
Mbetsa said chances of the deal collapsing were high if residents continue to be used by politicians to fight development in the city. The Financial Gazette
