Lupane State University (LSU) Nearing Completion

THE Lupane State University (LSU) site in the Matabeleland North capital, Lupane is nearing completion with 160 students moving into campus next year.
While the US$25 million project took off in 2005, only the women’s hostel and the Agriculture Science building have been completed. The campus will accommodate 728 students at the hostels, of equal half between both sexes. In the meantime, male and female students are expected to share the womens’ hostel in January 2016.

To date, LSU has enrolled 2 929 students, an improvement since 2007 when it had only 37 students. The university has 89 academic staff members and 219 non-academics workers.

Speaking during a media tour on Friday, LSU vice-chancellor Professor Pardon Kuipa said the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has installed a water purification pump which is yet to be electrified.

“Besides getting a pump from Zinwa we also applied to get raw water and our application was successful. So we will be pumping water directly from Bubi-Lupane Dam so that students doing agriculture will be able to irrigate their gardens,” he said.

The campus will be using electricity for lights while solar and steam will be used for other functions so that electricity costs are reduced. “Electricity will be used for lights only so that we do not have to pay high electricity costs; solar energy will be used for geysers while steam will be used in the kitchen for cooking,” said Prof Kuipa.

The male hostels, flats for staff and the dining room are still under construction. The VC said accommodation for lecturers will be available and for those who do not want to stay near campus, a bus for them to travel to and from Jotsholo will be provided.

“Flats for lecturers are being built, each flat will accommodate 12 people and for those who do not want to stay in campus, they will be transported to Jotsholo where accommodation is available for lecturers,” he said.

Prof Kuipa said a state-of-the-art primary school is being built in Lupane by a Chinese company for children who will move in with their parents who are lecturers.

He noted that Government promised to give LSU US$8,6 million as funds to build the school but due to the liquidity challenges it only managed to give them US$1,6 million, while Zimdef chipped in withUS $1,7 million.  by Tatenda Gapare
Source: sundaynews