adminBULAWAYO councillors on Tuesday adopted the proposed $156 million budget for 2014, which probably brought relief to thousands of already burdened city residents as service charges would not go up. According to the council, the budget is anchored on domestic financing aimed at consolidating improved service delivery and attracting more investors.
The budget was brought down by $13 million from this year’s $169 million with charges for residents remaining unchanged.
The council also came up with a cocktail of measures to attract investment such as partial writing-off of bills for companies, waiving rates for a given period and awarding 50 percent discount on rates clearance.
Delivering the budget, the chairman of the finance and development committee, Councillor James Sithole, said the council had also come up with a five-year strategy in a bid to improve the business environment in the ailing city’s economy.
Although the council has come with what we can call a residents and investor friendly budget, we still believe it should have shown ambition as the capital budget of $42,4 million does not indicate that the local authority is prepared to work on the expansion of the city.
The budget also indicates that the council has given up on embarking on serious projects such as housing whose backlog is said to have surpassed the 100 000 mark, decaying infrastructure such as the water and sewer pipes and pothole littered roads.
Over the years, residents have been complaining about the poor state of the roads and the problematic sewer pipe bursts, but it seems the council has lost the chance to address the issue.
We also wonder how the council is going to attract investment when the city’s roads no longer have potholes but have what some people call “drumholes”.
What is worrying is that potholes are now a common feature even on strategic roads with motorists complaining time and again that their vehicles are being damaged.
It is not a secret that the city’s roads have outlived their lifespan with virtually all the road networks exceeding the 20-year lifespan. Most of the city’s roads have outlived their span by more than 30 years.
The condition of the roads, some of which motorists are now avoiding, have been blamed for a number of accidents, some fatal in the city.
With the rainy season upon us, the situation is going to be worse, so the city fathers should wake up and smell the coffee.
The council should also make sure the issue of accommodation is not left to private developers, some of whom have a penchant for making a quick buck from desperate home seekers.
Despite the challenging economic situation, the council should at least come up with a housing project of its own and that could be achieved through going into partnerships with some financial institutions.
Online Reporter