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Mash Central Bureau
Bindura Municipality has entered into a partnership with mining companies for improved water supply and treatment, while prime budgeting for earth moving equipment for roads and refuse collection.
With a budget of about $1,3 billion the local authority resolved to procure a grader and backhoe loader to cut on equipment hiring expenses.
Town Clerk Mr Kelton Chinowaita said procurement of a fire tender is high on their priority list as the province is reliant on the Harare fire brigade.
The province does not have a fire station following the sale of commercial stands including the fire station and workshop by the council.
“We are in dire need of a fire tender. This year we will embark on massive re-equipping. We have tendered for a grader and backhoe loader and we will need about $35 million for the two,” he said.
“We wanted to buy the two last year, but we were affected by prices. All our equipment is obsolete and hiring has become very expensive for the council. We are in serious need of road equipment. We will also purchase tippers, refuse compactors, an ambulance and small service delivery vehicles.
“We bought two tractors in 2019 and they are effective in refuse collection in town. A lot of areas have damaged roads and tractors access bad roads. All our refuse compactors have broken down. This year we want to improve on refuse collection.”
Mr Chinowaita said the council was allocated $105 million devolution fund last year and they prioritise capital projects like Brockdale Primary School, Garikai bridge and flea market.
“We received $34 million at the close of last year and this year we were promised that the devolution disbursement will be done early and we will get 100 percent of our allocation,” he said.
“We used devolution funds to attend to our water works and we purchased three new pumps at the tune of $10 957 359. We managed to install one, two are standby pumps. These are bigger capacity pumps.
“As a result we have experienced improvement in our pumping capacity and we can now pump more water in our reservoirs at water works. In endeavours to improve on water supply we have partnered with ZINWA, Trojan and Freda Rebecca to resuscitate the pumping station at Masembura Dam. However, this project is not funded with devolution money.”
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He said, although plans for the pipeline are in this year’s budget, currently they are using a canal to draw water into Mazowe River.
“The disadvantage is that it is an open canal and anyone can access the water. This makes the pipeline critical in minimising losses. We did a test run of the pump station and everything is working but we are not using it yet because we have sufficient flow of water in Mazowe River,” he said.
“We are still facing challenges with illegal gold panners although at a lesser scale now, as soon as you leave the area they come back.”
Using devolution funds Mr Chinowaita said they convert a beerhall into wheelchair -friendly modern offices in Chipadze which house the health, housing and treasury departments.
Council was using upstairs offices to the disadvantage of the physically disabled.
“The upstairs offices were also overcrowded, prompting us to construct an accessible one stop centre for our residents,” he said.
Bindura Municipality has so far used $180 617 of devolution funds to construct a bridge in Garikai to ease challenges faced by residents in Chiwaridzo Phase 1, 2, Woodbrook and Garikai who are cut off during the rainy season.
The community which is in the northern part of Bindura uses a footbridge to the lower part of Bindura and access schools, clinics, banks and major services.
Due to incessant rains experienced in the province in the past days the footbridge has become impassible and unsafe to use.
Mr Chinowaita said they are hiring equipment to speed up construction of the bridge which must be complete in the next three weeks.
“We started construction work on the bridge late December last year but we were stalled by incessant rains. If it was not for the rains, we could have finished. We are working with our civil engineers on the designs and architecture of the bridge,” he said.
“The bridge will link people in Chiwaridzo Phase 1, 2, Garikai and Woodbroke. We have a big community on the other side of the bridge yet there are no schools or clinics.
People get services on the other side and during the rainy season it was difficult to cross and access services and a clinic. In this year’s budget we will start construction of a clinic in the Garikari area during the second quarter.”
Online Reporter