Treasury approves $13,5m fund for BCC

Prosper Ndlovu recently in Victoria Falls
THE government has approved a $13,5 million credit facility for the Bulawayo City Council from a local bank to finance improved service delivery for the next 15 years.Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo told parliamentarians at the close of the 2015 pre-budget seminar in Victoria Falls the move was part of a government initiative to assist the 92 undercapitalised local authorities in the country to meet quality service provision obligations.

“Quite a number (councils) have been borrowing from local finance institutions in an effort to bring the much needed quality service to their respective communities.

“A case in point is the Bulawayo City Council which needs $13,5 million to guarantee residents of Bulawayo good water and good sanitation for the next 15 years. This has been approved by us and the Ministry of Finance and a local bank has agreed to fund the programme,” said Dr Chombo.

He said his ministry would continue engaging various international finance institutions to facilitate more credit facilities for local authorities in Zimbabwe.

“Notably is the recent initiative by XGMA Zimbabwe where local authorities will benefit from a credit scheme which allows them to purchase various road equipment. This will usher in a new era to our embattled local authorities,” he added.

The minister expressed concern over inconsistencies regarding budget allocations and actual disbursements and hoped the five percent constitutional allocation for local authorities in the budget would be channelled towards boosting reliable and efficient service provision.

“My ministry will put in place measures that ensure that funding from Treasury goes to projects that transform people’s lives,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Chombo said various policy guidelines have been crafted to control expenditure by local authorities to ensure more resources were used for service delivery in line with the 30-70 percent ratio.

“The ministry is also working on ensuring that salaries and benefits for local authority staff are kept at manageable levels to guard against exorbitant salaries especially for top management at the expense of service delivery,” said the minister.