Woodville stand owners take City Council to task

13 Jun, 2021 - 01:06 0 Views
Woodville stand owners take City Council to task Mr Christopher Dube

The Sunday News

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
BENEFICIARIES of housing stands in Woodville who have been up in arms with the developer, Asphalt Construction have accused the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) of neglecting them.

The beneficiaries last Wednesday held a meeting with council officials with the aim of reaching a common ground so that development work commences.

However, sources have revealed that there was a deadlock as council officials insisted that the 144 beneficiaries pay towards the US$1,5 million servicing fee if any development was to take place immediately.

“The local authority told us that for the contractor to resume work we have to pay towards the US$1,5 million which was the value for the entire contract.

“Failure to do this the local authority said they will take over the project and it can take over five years for development to be completed, as they will now be using their scarce resources.

“What is frustrating is that when the local authority first availed these stands to us they gave us all assurances and we also fell for it, but now we are out in the open because BCC is saying they cannot assist us anyhow,” said one of the beneficiaries.

Contacted for comment, the local authority’s corporate communications officer, Miss Bongiwe Ngwenya said the contract was before an arbitrator hence they could not divulge much information until the process was completed.

She revealed that in terms of development, the contractor had managed to cover 82 percent in water connection and 46 percent in terms of the road network before stopping work, forcing council to take the matter to arbitration.

“The servicing contract for the Woodville stands is under arbitration and as such the matter is sub judice. Council awaits the finalisation of the legal process.

“The US$1.5 million referred to was indicated as the contract figure. The correct information of the servicing in the area is also 82 percent for water and 46 percent for roads,” said Miss Ngwenya.

The local authority recently reported that more than 3 000 stands that were being developed by private developers have been left uncompleted with the local authority forced to take legal action to resolve the impasse. Some of the projects affected included Emganwini’s 367 stands, Tshabalala (44), Magwegwe West (390), Woodville (144) and Emhlangeni Phase two (502).

Speaking during a service delivery update media briefing last week, Bulawayo Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube said there was not much they could do regarding the stands that were left hanging by developers and had subsequently been referred for arbitration.

Most private developers did not finish their work after demanding to be paid in US dollars at a time the country was using the local currency pegged at par with the US dollar, an arrangement that council could not manage.

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