Monday, 16 April 2012

MORE LAND FOR HOUSING

The government is contuing to give the green light in providing land for housing development to housing co-operatives,councils,private developers and even individuals.
This will clear housing backlog as more than one million people were given stands by the goverment.The Minister of Local Government,Rural and Urban Development,Dr Ignatious Chombo was quoted on the Chronicle of 10 April saying that projects like Izaya Park in Zvishavane were government initiatives that are part of the broader Scheme,the five-year National Housing Delivery programme,launched by the government in 2004.
This is going to allow the provision of housing for low income people and help reduce the country`s huge housing waiting list.
Other stands on offer are found in Bulawayo,Midlands and many other cities.

BCC TROUBLING BULAWAYO RESIDENTS.

Bulawayo residents are complaining folowing the operation carried out by the BCC.The council is selling the property of residents who have arrears in their water bills.Many residents are complaining that the council is trying to recover its money in an unhumane manner.
Some are complaining that the council is leaving other debtors like the goverment,industrial and commercial consumers who also owe substantial ammounts.They are saying that the council is targetting orphans,widows and unemployed people while leaving the government,industrial and commercial consumers.This is a way of making these people poorer and poorer.The council is targeting to recover US$60 million owed to it by water consumers.The residents are saying that the local authority should be creative and find alternative ways of generating income,
Is this the correct way for th local authority to collect its debts? This need the public attention.What is your opinion?

Saturday, 31 March 2012

CONSTITUENCE DEVELOPMENT FUNDS ABUSE

Members of Parliament are reportedly abusing US$50 000 given to each constituency for development.According to Sunday News of 25-31 March 2012,some of the Members of Parliament were aarested following allegations that they were abusing these funds.
The Minister of Local Government,Ignatious Chombo has called for an audit in order to see how these funds are being used.I think it is not the work of the Members of Parliament to develop constituencies but their duty is to administer development.
Some people are also saying that in order for these funds to be used accordingly it is better to be kept by local government officials than to be kept by the Members of Parliament.This money is supposed to develop the local people not MPs only.
I think this subject needs views form the masses, so what is your take?

Friday, 23 March 2012

COUNCIL ACTS ON WATER CRISIS

Following the outcry of the people in Bulawayo city the council has decided to take action.Some locations like Magwewe West and surbubs like Mahatsula North ran out of water for solid week water in December last year.
In response,Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has started lobbying for funds from Government and financial institutions to undertake the project in construcing a parallel pipeline from Insiza Dam to increase the volume of water to be pumped from the city`s largest supply dam.
It also expect to decommission two of its five supply dams-Upper Ncema and Umzingwane.Recently there are five dams which supply the city with water and these are Umzingwane, Inyankuni,Insiza, Lower and Upper Ncema.There have been calls for the speedy completion of the Gwayi/Shangani Dam, which is a major component of th National Matebeleland Zambezi Water Project (Chronicle,20 March 2012).

Friday, 16 March 2012

BULAWAYO TO USE SEWAGE WATER

 The City of Bulawayo will soon start using sewage water from Khami River for construction ,industrial uses  and agricultural purposes in an effort to save treated water for human basic needs.I think this is a good idea since many houses are being constructed especially in Parklands Housing Construction along Harare Road and Cowdray Park, and many people are moving from rural areas to urban areas in search for greener pastures.
The Minister of Water Resources Development and Management Samuel Sipepa Nkomo was quoted on the 9th-16th Sunday News saying that the city will start treating sewage effluent so that it is used in some sectors  that are using treated water  when they have an alternative of reclaimed water.He also cited that there are some exceptions such as companies that do manufacturing that need clean water

BCC SINKS DEEPER INTO DEBT

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) owes several service providers large sums of money.According to the latest council minutes provided by the Sunday News of 11-17 March 2012 BCC owes Zimbabwe electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) US$17 715 465,46.It also owes LAPF US$14 370 157,80 and PAYE US$3 154 741,96.Also,it owes Financial institutions US$11 719 215.08 and Loan balance from IDBZ US$2 198 453,72.
In December 2011 only ,the council`s expenditure was US$60 345 427 while it has just generated only US$46 193 933.BCC has cited many reasons for their failure to collect adequate revenue.One of the reasons is that many water meters in some areas in the city are not working and companies are using water for free at the expense of the city council.We do not know whether this is true or not.
My question is "Where are they going to find money to pay all thes debts?"

Saturday, 10 March 2012

UNREGISTERED TAXIS IMPOUNDED

At the beginning of March this year more than 20 vehicles belonging to unregistered private transport operators  were impounded by Bulawayo Traffic Police in a bid to eliminate pirate taxis.The vehicles are still at the Vehicle Department Department (VID).
The Motoring and Transportation Act give rights to the traffic police to arrest all unregistered pirate transport operators if they do not register their vehicles.
According to the Chronicle of 6 March 2012 police said they were going to finalize the issue of route cards that would be conducted with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC).Superintendent Henry Mhlanga was also quoted on the same paper saying that these route cards would be given to registered operators at designated loading points and would be produced at any roadblock along the way.The Bulawayo Public Transport Association (Bupta) were impressed by this stance taken by the traffic police since these unregistered transport operators were taking away business from them.