The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council last month received $6.9 billion from treasury as part of their allocation of devolution funds but says the money has not been used since most payments and purchases require foreign currency.
Addressing journalists following a meeting with Bulawayo Mayor, Councillor David Coltart and the City’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube, Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Winston Chitando confirmed the disbursement of the funds to the city. He said the local authority had the capacity to get part of the allocation in foreign currency depending on their requirements in terms of inputs for their projects.
“The city of Bulawayo got an allocation of $6.9 billion at the end of February under the devolution funds. When local authorities get the money for devolution funds, some of that money is required in local currency, while some of the money is required in foreign currency, depending on the nature in which the local authority requires to utilise the funds.
“For instance if the local authority wants to buy cement that can be paid in local currency but where the local authority requires that money to purchase inputs for their projects from outside the country, they now have to go through the foreign exchange mechanism to get forex.
“Through our engagement with local authorities we will ensure that there is an interface with the Finance Minister and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, so as to create an environment where they can access foreign currency for their projects,” said Minister Chitando.
Confirming that the local authority received the funds, Clr Coltart said the funds were still in council accounts as most of their contractors and inputs required foreign currency.
“It is correct that money has been dispersed. It is sitting in the city council bank accounts. The problem is that, it is in Zimbabwe dollars. We contracted private companies for some of the work that needs to be done and they need foreign currency.
“As you would appreciate, we don’t manufacture these large pumps in the country, they have to be imported. The same with the booster pumps that we need for Mtshabezi pipeline, the companies are asking for foreign currency. As we all know the Zimbabwe dollar has greatly depreciated in the last month or so, and so the goalposts are continually moving for us as a council,” said Clr Coltart.
Early this month, the local authority was put to task, failing to utilise $2,3 billion in road rehabilitation funds from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara), yet the local authority is struggling to repair the city’s major roads, most of which are in a deplorable state.
According to a Zinara funds disbursement report for 2023, the total budget for roads last year was $250 billion, of which $218 billion was disbursed to road authorities which include the Department of Roads, the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, urban and rural district councils.
Bulawayo was initially allocated $800 million before the budget was revised upwards to $4,8 billion. However, BCC claimed about $2, 5 billion leaving an excess of over $2,3 billion.
