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Sukoluhle Ndlovu, Midlands Correspondent
Gweru City Council (GCC) has gone into partnering with hotel giant African Sun in the construction of a world class Holiday Inn Hotel.
The council said some of its achievements include reducing its debtor bill by more than $1 million, purchasing three refuse trucks, rehabilitating 35km of road as well as Ascot Stadium. This was heard during the first quarter budget review meeting held recently at the town house.
Presenting the budget review report, GCC acting finance director Mr Owen Masimba said the local authority has made significant strides in the past year.
“The Gweru City Council made several achievements in the past year as the municipality works towards achieving its vision of being a sustainable city of choice by 2030. Some of the achievements include roads rehabilitation, reducing our debt and we have leased land to African Sun for construction of a world class Holiday Inn express hotel,” he said.
Mr Masimba said the initiative was meant to reduce accommodation challenges that are experienced by travellers and businesspeople coming in for workshops and other business related visits.
“We noticed that at times people visiting the city face accommodation problems, and some end up travelling to Kwekwe because all hotels and lodges will be fully booked hence this partnership with African Sun for this hotel. The land has been identified and now we are on the land leasing stage. We hope that the stage will be completed soon so that the construction of the hotel begins as soon as possible,” he said.
Mr Masimba said the local authority which is owed more than $57 million has managed to recover over a $1 million owed by rate payers.
“GCC managed to recover $1 064 140 from both residents and companies. We managed to reduce the bill from over $58 million to just above $57 million. We continue to encourage companies and residents to religiously pay their bills so that service delivery is not interrupted,” he said.
He said the council managed to recover debt after introducing raft measures including offering payment plans to rate payers.
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