The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has said it has received US$17 thousand and ZWL$10, 5 million from the Tendy Three Investments (TTI) car parking system since its inception.
TTI is managing the city’s smart parking system in which it remits 30 percent of the revenue to BCC.
At its inception the system received a backlash from some stakeholders who felt the US$1 parking fee for 30 minutes was exorbitant while others felt the deal was a disadvantage to the local authorities.
There were also those stakeholders who felt the deal should be suspended until meaningful consultations had been done.
Briefing the media Thursday an official from the city’s Engineering Services Department, Faith Nkonde said the local authority had started deriving benefits from the deal.
“From inception and that is 18 Feb 2022 to the 31st of May BCC has received USD 17,000 and ZWL$10.5 million,” said Nkonde.
“There have been improvements in collections, for example in the month of May BCC received USD 8,000 and ZWL$5.5 million. These figures are expected to keep on improving as we expand the roll out to cover more parking bays.”
Meanwhile, BCC, which is owed ZWL $7.9 billion by residents, industry, commerce, and government, is struggling to pay its creditors in the process crippling service delivery.
“Suppliers use forward pricing to accommodate delays in settling their dues which in turn makes service delivery expensive to Council,” said Nkonde.
“Some suppliers have refused credit terms with the Council because of delayed payment. Some suppliers have resorted to demanding cash upfront or a shorter creditor period.”
She added: “As a result of the above, Council can only pay from what it has received or collected. Service delivery is greatly affected by such non-payment of creditors.”
Council rates and tariffs are being indexed against the US Dollar based on the ruling interbank rate at the time of billing.
“The indexing of tariffs against the ruling interbank rate aligns perfectly with the Monetary Policy Statement and the provisions of SI 118A as announced by the Ministry of Finance in the midterm review,” she said.
