The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has proposed to construct a ZW$25 million mansion for the city’s mayor as opposed to renovating a double-storey council property which had been identified as the mayoral official residence.
The double-storey house is located in Hornung Golf Club in Burnside.
The incumbent, Solomon Mguni, who is also Ward 23 Councillor currently resides in Nkulumane suburb.
In April, the local authority resolved to provide mayoral accommodation after thieves broke into Clr Mguni’s Nkulumane house and stole valuables.
According to a confidential council report obtained by CITE, the Burnside property is run down and will have to undergo extensive renovations at a cost of US$146 364.70.
The renovations will including fixing the interior, landscaping, construction of a guard room, perimeter wall with a 4-metre gate and a double carport.
An Interdepartmental Committee then proposed three options: to renovate the property at Hornung park or build a house at the City of Bulawayo stand at Selbourne Park.
“The estimated costs of renovations and property renovations had a slight difference,” the report by Town Clerk Christopher addressed to the mayor and councillors, noted.
The third option tabled was to buy a property at market rates which could be moved to an institutional property once the building of the mayoral mansion is completed.
“The committee recommended that council takes into consideration option 2 as the estimated time of renovations and building were the same (3 – 5 Months). The estimated building costs of a new house were slightly higher than the renovation costs. It was also noted that Council could utilise its Building Branch staff to conduct the special project,” the report noted.
“The team further recommended that additional temporary contract staff (30 workers) distributed among Builders, Bricklayers, Labourers, carpenters etc be procured to assist in ensuring that the deadline is met. Further assistance be obtained from Engineering Services Department inclusive of requisite machinery such as Front end loaders, caterpillars etc and staff. The detailed figures and Bill of Quantities be finalised.”
The interdepartmental committee then recommended that “a total of ZWL$25 000 000.00 be viremented from vote 0084/12244 ($16 200 000.00) and 0084/12245 ($8 800 000.00) to cater for building costs for the Mayoral Mansion. That Council authorises the building of a Mayoral Mansion at the Selbourne Park Stand.”
