Greenfield projects to dominate Bulawayo SEZs model

The City of Bulawayo has revealed that Greenfield projects will dominate the implementation of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) model in the city, surpassing brownfield projects, and is now calling on businesses to partner with them for the development of the Umvumila area.

Greenfield describes land where there were no buildings before, or buildings on land that have never had buildings, while brownfields are properties where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse is complicated by real or potential environmental contamination, often stemming from past industrial or commercial uses.

In an interview on the sidelines of the two-day Bulawayo Investment Development Conference (Bedcon25), Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Economic Development officer, Mr Mthandazo Ngwenya said their model will be concrete mostly on Greenfield projects.

“On SEZs we are looking at working on a reviewed model after the Council (BCC) team in 2023 went to South Africa, they saw a good model that can also apply to Bulawayo. The model will be looking at greenfields and brownfields, but concentrating on Greenfields,” he said.

“This is more like a gated business community in terms of SEZ where businesses or different sectors are in one place while the brownfields are the likes of Belmont and old business locations. Brownfields are quiet difficult because most of these areas are owned by private sector.”

He said one of the Greenfield projects was Umvumila area, a virgin piece of land covering about 188 hectares and it will be managed by the Council as the operator in terms of getting an operator license, while this meant it becomes easier for BCC to have control over the SEZ.

Mr Ngwenya said the other issue was that land designated as SEZ could not be sold.-chroncile