TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has procured plant and equipment worth more than US$1.120m, a move that will likely aid the local authority enhancing the quality of service provided to the city.
Speaking during the commissioning of the plant and machinery in Bulawayo on Friday last week, BCC director of Engineering Services, engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube revealed that the equipment was procured through World Bank loans and funds raised from the sale of stands.
“…This (procurement of plant and equipment) was made possible through the World Bank loans, which is no longer available and currently with funds realised from sale of stands.
“The acquisition of this equipment will result in the improvement in the quality and reliability of the plant used for implementation of both new and routine maintenance programmes,” Ncube said.
He said the council’s equipment was old and dilapidated compromising service delivery.
“The current plant and equipment was procured in 1992, 1998 and 2015, as a result council’s plant and equipment is now obsolete, and this has adversely affected the state of the City’s entire road network and the service delivery in general. Council has a fleet of 336 vehicles and plants of which 51% are obsolete and need phased replacement,” Ncube said.
At the same event, the mayor of the city of Bulawayo, Solomon Mguni, said there was a need to improve revenue collection and bill payment patterns by residents.
“The major challenge faced by the city and other local authorities in Zimbabwe is the lack of financing in order to meet the infrastructure needs. We need to improve the revenue collection and bill payment patterns by the residents in order to be able to improve service delivery and procure the resources required.
“The City of Bulawayo must procure more equipment and plant for other services, such as refuse collection and fire emergency services among others. To be able to achieve this we need to work with residents through the timeous payment of service delivery bills,” Mguni said.
He said the hyper-inflationary environment made it impossible for the city to raise the capital funding through the loans and to be able to frequently purchase this equipment.
Bulawayo Town Clerk, Christopher Dube said: “It is council policy now to limit outsourcing of services. Yes, we will continue outsourcing but it has become expensive. Our policy as council is to try as much as possible to have all the equipment that we require.”
