Quality Hotel stands idle

Once rated as a two star hotel by the country’s regulator of the tourism sector, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, the Quality was bought by the Zgovernment towards the end of 2011 for an undisclosed amount.

Situated at the corner of fourth street and Nelson Mandela in Harare, opposite Parliament, it was ideal to accommodate ministers, parliamentarians, senators and chiefs whenever they attended sessions of the august house.

Former MDC- T Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo is on record disclosing that government had bought the hotel to use it to cut down on expenditure on the welfare of officials whenever they were on national duty in Harare.

Two years on, nothing has been done towards fulfilling this cause.

An security guard at the premises, who asked not to be identified, said: “Nothing is happening. The last time we saw people doing a bit of renovations at this place was in January 2012. They are saying there is no money.”

Developments in Zimbabwean politics will this week see President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) government assume office faced with the daunting task of revitalising infrastructural deficiencies which have progressively deteriorated over the past 20 years.

Economic analyst Eric Bloch said infrastructural development should be one of the key priority areas for the new government considering its implications on economic growth.

He said the new government should address ‘infrastructural challenges’ and one of the key avenues of achieving this task is through “Economic recovery and growth is dependent on infrastructural development. Considering the current financial position of the incoming government, it becomes imperative that major parastatals are privatised to ensure viability,” he said.

He cited the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, Telone and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority holdings as the four in need of urgent privatisation.

“If these companies are revitalised, they will restore a virile economy and the country is guaranteed of economic growth. The new government should invest in agriculture, industry and the tourism sectors if the economy is to head for a re-bound,” he said.

Deputy spokesperson for the Welshman Ncube MDC, Kurauone Chihwayi, said Zimbabweans should not expect miracles from President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) ‘infested’ government.

He said the country was on the brink of total infrastructural collapse.

“Mugabe’s fictitious victory will take the country back to the 2008 era and we are facing a total collapse of already dilapidated infrastructure,” he said. “The party’s history of looting and failure will repeat itself, but the tragedy is that innocent Zimbabweans will bear the brunt of such greed for power,” added Chihwayi.