adminInnocent Ruwende : Municipal Reporter
Harare City Council has signed an agreement with Southern Region Trading Company, which will see the company introducing a shop/business licensing electronic billing platform, which is expected to plug loopholes rampant in the shop licensing manual system. The city has lost revenue through the generation of fake shop licences by some of its employees.Southern Region Trading Company has offered to give council six Nissan NP200 pick-ups, 50 mobile devices, wide area network connectivity, system design data migration and data take on deployment of hardware, training all system users, maintenance and replacement of equipment and access to 24-hour call centre facility free of charge to council.
The company will also provide 10 computers, 10 printers, 10 scanners and secure online hosting.
“The parties agreed that the commission due to Southern Region Trading Company for services provided under the project shall be 5 percent of the actual collections made for the first $5 million.
“Council stand to benefit from this engagement in that all loopholes that exist in the shop licensing manual system will be plucked out.
“Council would also move with the times of advanced technologies. Revenue collection from licensing is set to improve,” reads the minutes of the Education, Health, Housing and Community Services and Licensing Committee.
According to the minutes, Health Services director Dr Prosper Chonzi reported that Southern Region Trading Company submitted its proposal to partner City of Harare in the project and will provide the software for the electronic digital shop licensing billing system.
Dr Chonzi said after negotiations and deliberating, the parties had now come up with a final draft Memorandum of Agreement, which was ready for signing once council approves the deal.
On Thursday, the full council approved and authorised the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between City of Harare and Southern Region Trading Company for the shop/business licensing electronic billing platform.
Financial leakages through business licences and fake business licences and commuter omnibus rank discs are bleeding council.
Councillors have raised concern over the loss of funds by the financially hamstrung council.
Recently, an audit revealed that three employees swindled the city of more than $30 000 through the fraudulent issuance of food handlers medical examination Certificates at Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospital.
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