Own correspondent
Masvingo City Council (MCC) has presented a budget proposal estimated at US$ 3.5 for the upcoming 2023 fiscal year.
According to part of the city’s 2022 half-year budget review report presented recently by Acting Finance Director Dannister Jori, the local authority expects the said amount to cater for most if not all of their capital or major projects.
“We expect our capital budget to be an average of US$ 3.5 million. We are requesting for input from residents and stakeholder on their needs based on priority areas and other justifiable needs,” said part of the report.
The report also outlined the key areas to which the budget would be focused on among them water supply infrastructure, sewerage infrastructure, markets upgrading and construction of new markets, public lighting infrastructure, Rujeko secondary school, landfill construction, road maintenance, Mucheke stadium repair, ward development projects and health services.
The upcoming 2023 budget whose consultations are now underway is running under the theme ‘Re-tooling for improved service delivery’ and directs its focus towards the acquisition and construction of critical assets for service delivery.
In the past, Masvingo has faced a host of challenges on the service delivery front among them operating with a depleted fleet that saw garbage in residential areas and even the Central Business District (CBD) going uncollected for days before roping in of vehicles from the Central Mechanical Engineering Department (CMED) to ease the burden.
Water supplies also caused headaches for the authority while liquid waste management was also a major challenge either due to vandalism on key infrastructure or breaking down of old pipes.
Financial challenges also coupled by late disbursement of devolution funds from Treasury have derailed progress of the projects earmarked to be bankrolled by the fund.
