Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently commissioned new headquarters for the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) where he stated the importance of infrastructure in the operation and functioning of an economy.
In his official opening speech, President Mnangagwa said ” I am delighted to join you to today to witness the official opening of POTRAZ’s new Headquarters. Infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational structure needed for the operation of any society, or enterprise and necessary for any economy to function.”
“The increased growth of the ICT industry, fueled by the rapidly changing technologies entails greater responsibility for POTRAZ, as telecommunication technologies and platforms have become an integral part of our modern society,” added President Mnangagwa.
Minister of Information Communication Technology and Cybersecurity, Supa Mandiwanzira said “The Ministry of ICT and Cyber Security and POTRAZ have jointly drawn several lessons on the costly impact of rigidity in public sector procurement and the need to innovatively procure goods and services in-order to deliver cost-effective infrastructure projects in this regard.”
POTRAZ Director General, Dr Gift Machengete said “In designing this facility, account was taken of the evolving nature of communication regulation and the ever-broadening spectrum of stakeholders. During the days of the first generation regulation, Communication Regulatory Authorities would build themselves Ivory Towers from which they would shout commands and instructions: It was a command and control environment.”
“Today, Zimbabwe is implementing 3rd Generation Regulation and those ahead of us are in the 4th Generation.The unrelenting evolution in regulation is in tandem with advances in technology which are creating new social dimensions and business models that impact every aspect of our lives, be it at individual, corporate, community or national level.” explained Machengete.
“Today’s regulation is more open, consultative, collaborative transparent and agile. To that end, the POTRAZ HQ is intended to provide the ambience, space, conference and business facilities as well as amenities that meet today’s expectations and are future proof. The building offers an auditorium for both national and international conferences; Meeting Rooms for large-scale stakeholder consultations and engagements as well as optimally sized consultation rooms for light meetings.” concluded Machengete.
