City of Harare is set to purchase an additional 20 refuse collection trucks and skip bins as part of the decentralization drive which will see the newly gazetted zones running their own affairs.
Speaking to 263Chat on the sidelines of a decentralization stakeholder workshop, Acting Town Clerk Josephine Ncube said the decentralization process would see a lot of changes taking place in the manner in which council business is done as the city has segmented different areas into Zones and districts.
“One of the major areas decentralization would look at is Waste management; we are looking at buying 20 new refuse collecting trucks before the year ends. I can’t give the value of the money we are going to spend towards the purchase of these trucks as of now.
“In terms of financing, we are going to buy these vehicles through loan financing from the revenue we collect as council,” said Ncube.
Harare is battling against refuse collection with the current fleet of 45 compactors having outlived its lifespan constantly breaking down resulting in erratic refuse collection.
City Director of Works, Engineer Phillip Pfukwa hinted on the plans by council to acquire new refuse trucks and added that the city will also be purchasing skip bins so as to improve the waste management situation.
Meanwhile, the decentralization exercise which council adopted early this year is set to address bureaucratic issues as well as improve efficiency among new zones. According to City of Harare, the new system will see districts retaining 25 percent of all revenue collected in the area to fund local shared programmes.
The 75 percent that goes to the centre will deal with capital projects, salaries and general administration of the city.
Deputy Mayor Councillor Christopher Mbanga said the decentralization process means a transfer of powers from the town house to districts.
“This means the officials at the district level are empowered to make decisions that have traditionally resided at head office. Those are decisions with local impact, decisions that affect the local community such as water, bill payment, health, roads, street lighting, grass cutting, storm drain clearance. Debt settlement among a host of other services within the domain and jurisdiction of the district officers and their chief area administrators,” said Mbanga.
