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Victoria Falls Reporter
NEWLY elected Victoria Falls Mayor, Councillor Somvelo Dlamini, says the country’s prime resort town needs about $75 million to support its five-year strategic development plan and achieve financial sustainability.
Victoria Falls has been declared a tourism Special Economic Zone (SEZ) while a number of capital projects are in the pipeline.
Speaking soon after his election, Clr Dlamini called on residents and ratepayers to honour their dues to widen the local authority’s financial base.
“Without financially viable municipalities, our vision of building better communities will not be achieved. Victoria Falls Municipality requires $15 million per year for the next five years in order to achieve financial sustainability,” he said.
“With more people paying for services and more business developing, opportunities translate to more income and better service delivery. In this regard I would like to urge our valuable stakeholders and residents to commit themselves to settling debts owed to council for quality service delivery.”
Clr Dlamini said no service was to be offered free of charge, adding that the council will prioritise cost recovery and revenue generation activities over the next five years. He said the goal was to make Victoria Falls a golden green city and a destination of choice with quality service delivery.
“As we embark on this five year journey, we will take what we have learned over the last couple of years and continue moving forward and capitalising on new opportunities.
“We will dedicate our lives towards completing the many projects that are in the pipeline,” he said.
Some of the projects include building a state of the art tourism hospital, refurbishing sporting facilities, civic centre, the $13 million Zimre Mall whose construction is underway as well as other Government projects that have been earmarked including the $1.2 billion convention centre. — @ncubeleon
Online Reporter