Staff Reporter
The construction of the Binga Central Registry started about 20 years ago, but could not be completed.
But since the coming in of the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa, remarkable progress has been achieved, jobs created, excitement torched and soon the Central Registry Office would be completed.
The people of Binga will then be able to access civil registry documents such as birth certificates, national identity documents, passports and death certificates, right at Binga Centre, cutting the huge costs they used to incur, especially to get a passport.
The project was proposed during the First Republic, but just like most projects started or mooted then, it suffered a stillbirth.
It took the coming in of the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa, to declare that the Central Registry Office would be completed.
In his address at Siabuwa Business Centre on April 13 when he went there to handover fishing rigs to 17 chiefs in Binga and four from Kariba, President Mnangagwa said: “You requested to have a registry office and we will build a new one.”
It was not a promise made in vain as builders are on site, with progress now at an advanced stage.
When the idea to have a Central Registry Office constructed in Binga was mooted, people swiftly moved to the ground and hundreds of bags of cement were bought.
But when the disease of not pursuing projects to their end creeped in, the cement was hit by rains at the site and became unusable.
The new contractor who is on site now, Kuchi Construction, used the cement to construct the “box” of the offices.
Construction seriously restarted in March this year and the entire outside of the building has been completed.
The Binga Central Registry Office has 28 offices and four toilets.
Binga District Development Coordinator (DDC) Mr Siansole Land Kabombe conceded that the Central Registry Building was “taking shape now”.
“We are now at roof level. The project had waited for 20 years but thanks to the Second Republic which is focused on communities having key assets, it is now being finalised,” he said.
“When His Excellency came to Binga, he said everyone should have identity documents and we immediately set up four teams and they took six months to do the work.
“Another group focused on fishing camps to ensure people had IDs, under the leaving no one and no place mantra. So we are actually happy and going forward, people will be getting their documents from the Central Registry Office,” said Mr Kabome.
Kuchi Construction supervisor for the Binga project, Mr Exavario Fabion Zifuke, told EDevolution Media when they started in March, it was literally doing most of the things.
“We have done a lot of work since coming here in March. We started almost from scratch and as you can see, the outside of the building is now finished.
“We are happy as a contractor to be participating in the development of our country. As we develop the country, we are also getting resources to take care of our families.
“When this building is completed, the people of Binga will also cut down on expenses of travelling to get important documents such as birth certificates and passports, as they will obtain them here at Binga Centre,” said Mr Zifuke. Ms Edgar Sinampande, a bookkeeper hired from the local community by Kuchi Construction, thanked the Second Republic for constructing the Central Registry Office at Binga Centre.
“The construction of this Central Registry Office will help the people of Binga a lot. We will get National IDs, passports and other key documents from here. So we will save a lot of money which we used to spend on transport.
“During this construction process, I am getting some money to feed my family. L have been employed for the past six months and I am happy that I get something at the end of each month,” said Ms Sinampande.
Mr Rodrick Mudenda (38), who is employed as a construction assistant, said: “We are happy as Binga with the construction of this office. People have been travelling for long distances to get passports but all that will end soon.
“Everyone is happy that apart from getting passports near their homes, this building will improve infrastructure in the area so we want to thank President Mnangagwa for this.
“The Second Republic has brought infrastructure developments that are also helping us get jobs to feed our families.”
