Entumbane residents are pushing the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to use the Ward Retention Fund to construct a library in the suburb.
For several decades school children from the area are forced to travel to Mpopoma and Njube suburbs in order to access library services.
However, the local councillor Sinikiwe Mutanda says the allocation is not enough to finance the construction of a library.
“In the year 2016, the council allocated US$ 23 884 to the ward, in the year 2017 the ward was given US$ 23 498, for 2018 the council has allocated us $ 27 462 making a sum of $74 844,” said Cllr Mutanda.
“However, the previous councillor spent US$ 13,221 and the balance is now $ 61 623 and this amount is too little to develop the whole ward for three years.”
“Yesterday I had an interface with the residents and I told them that building a structure like a library needs a lot of funds which cannot be achieved through the retention fund.
According to the local authority, more than US$350 000 is needed to construct a community library in the high-density suburb.
Cllr Mutanda said that they have come up with initiatives that will help raise funds for the construction of the library.
“The residents have agreed that the library stand which was leased to the former councillor Prince Dube in 2013 should be leased to the residents so that they can use it to generate funds.
“The residents also identified the market at Entumbane as a possible area that has the potential to generate the funds. We are also going to set up a developmental committee that will oversee the proposed initiatives”.
The councillor added that she is going to table the recommendations made by residents at the next full council meeting.
Meanwhile, Cllr Mutanda said that in 2017 the local authority offered Shop N0 302/9 Entumbane to set up a temporary library.
“The room, however, does not have enough space for people to study within the library”.
