By Correspondent
Masvingo City is left with between 10-20% of land for horizontal development with experts advocating for vertical growth.
Horizontal growth in urban development, also known as urban sprawl, is when cities and towns expand outward in a low density pattern.
The revelations are part of findings presented in the twenty-year Masterplan adopted earlier this year.
“Only 10 to 20% of land remains available for horizontal development within the city boundary.
“The Master Plan proposes three directions of growth.
“First is vertical expansion of the city in the central business and residential districts.
“Second is horizontal growth to the south-east, the area bounded by
Mutare and Beitbridge Roads.
This direction of growth will imply changes to the city’s legal boundary through incorporation of its farm, Townlands and a portion of Clipsham on the southern end of the city.
“The third direction of growth involves regenerating city spaces currently used below potential or ripe for renewal.
Two specific nodes where this growth strategy will be deployed are Old Mucheke, and parts of the National Railways of Zimbabwe Main Station to the east of the central business district.
However, urban population growth has not been as high as previously projected.
According to the document, this is partly accounted for by the growth of peri-urban settlements from 2010.
However, these areas have suffered in terms of servicing which has neither been smooth nor adequate exposing.
Reasons cited include weak collaboration across local, provincial and national government levels.
The Masvingo Masterplan had not been changed since 1993.
The newly adopted Masterplan envisions turning the city into an industrialised metropolitan.
