Establishing special economic zones in local authorities challenges and prospects: A Case of Norton Town Council.

Abstract

Establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) brings positive attributes to the community. Amongst the prospects of establishing SEZs include enticing Foreign Direct Investment which would spur employment in the revived firms which would eradicate poverty and improve the standards of living of the community. Establishing SEZs also improves Council’s revenue inflows due to the fact that residents would be employed in the revamped firms, therefore they would be able to pay their financial obligations to Council. Furthermore, the revived industries would also be paying rates and taxes to Council thereby contributing to the rise of Council’s revenue base. Using the case of Norton Town Council for the period December 2015 to January 2018, the researcher conducted survey research on a purposive sample of forty seven respondents who were asked to give their views on a number of questions contained in the survey instrument. The study’s proposition is that Norton residents are failing to pay their financial arrears to Council because they are unemployed due to heavy deindustrialization in the town. Results were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. In light of the study’s findings it is quite evident that establishing SEZ in Norton would spur employment and improve the living standards of the populace. The research made a number of recommendations to Norton Town Council as a way to improve the living standards of the populace, alleviate poverty and create employment such that residents would be able to pay rates to Council. The research will also appeal to other researchers who are exploring the challenges and prospects associated with establishing SEZs as a way to spearhead the implementation of the National Blue Print, Zim-Asset strategy for economic recovery for the period (20132018).