Be proactive, councils urged

Innocent Ruwende recently in Bulawayo
Local authorities have been urged to adopt mass transport systems and redevelop road netoworks by emphasising ring roads to decongest their central business districts.

Addressing delegates at the just ended Africa Local Government Economic Forum, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development Cde Dexter Nduna said approaches to people transport and decongestion of urban areas must not only be new, but future-oriented taking into account envisaged changes in the population of both vehicles and people.

“A specific public transport mode called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has been generally favoured in recent years due to its moderate cost of implementation, relatively short implementation time, high quality of service, and capacity to move large numbers of passengers once it is implemented.

“There is need to redevelop road designs, emphasising by-pass roads, ring roads (such as Harare Drive), flyovers and revision of one-way roads as well as installation of solar traffic lights to counter congestion caused by power outages,” he said.

He said there was also need for enforcement of holding points for commuter omnibuses as well as the introduction of punitive fines for double parking.

Cde Nduna said it was also important for local authorities to computerise revenue collection mechanisms in order to plug leakages.

China-Zim Youth Forum president Brian Mudumi, who presented the lessons that could be emulated by local authorities said China had managed to reduce its housing backlog after committing to deliver 36 million affordable homes during the five-year period from 2011-2015.

“The target was addressed through a wide range of projects. There were three specific housing schemes: a modest low-rent housing scheme targeting low-income; a public rental housing scheme in which Government acquired private housing at market prices to re-let at lower prices to eligible households; and they also introduced that Economic Suitability Housing Scheme which targeted the affluent,” he said.

Mr Mudumi said for water usage revenue there was universal metering of individual households in apartments complexes where most urban residents lived and some cities were experimenting with prepaid debit cards that residents must insert into their meters in order to receive water.

He said the Chinese local authorities have managed to embrace technologies to end queues and bureaucratic hurdles and ratepayers could pay bills using WeChat payment and Allpay.

“Municipal governments provide their financing in the form of equity that typically is not remunerated. The other forms of financing require remuneration either in the form of interest on loans or profits on private equity.

“Local authorities in China are not allowed to borrow directly. Council- owned utility companies, however, are allowed to borrow from the China Development Bank,” he said.