Chiredzi Town Council eyes prosperous municipality status by 2025
CHIREDZI Town Council has embarked on a number of projects to improve service delivery to ensure the Lowveld town achieves a prosperous municipal status by 2025. Some of the projects include the Melbourne sewer reticulation, Chitsanga waterline upgrade, Makondo Clinic construction and other road construction initiatives in and around the town.
Last year the Chiredzi Town Council unveiled a five-year development plan to improve the town’s water supply and modernise infrastructure following a post-2023 election engagement meeting facilitated by Citizens in Action Southern Africa Zimbabwe (CIASA).
Newly-appointed town secretary, engineer Wesley Kauma, expressed Chiredzi’s commitment to achieving municipal status by 2025.
It was also revealed that the local authority will this year partner the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe to improve its water supply system to ensure uninterrupted supplies.
According to a CIASA statement, more than 30% of concerns raised by citizens during the budget consultation meetings were incorporated into the 2024 budget.
“CIASA notes that while there is room for improvement in the development of future budgets, the current prioritisation of critical projects like access to water is a welcome development for the community of Chiredzi,” the statement said.
During the meeting, CIASA projects director Archbold Madida applauded the council for laying out a progressive plan to increase access to clean, safe and potable water.
He called on the local authority to ensure all programmes are citizen-driven and inclusive.
At the same meeting, the local authority assured residents that water supply will be increased to meet rising demand emanating from population growth.
“The local authority emphasised that its main priority was to address the water challenge, which presents itself as one of the natural challenges the city is exposed to,” CIASA said.
The council has proposed to spend US$96 000 on installing 80 streetlights along Inyathi Road and other areas across town as part of its 2024 budget.
“CIASA recommended to Chiredzi Town Council the creation of an e-platform which will be accessible to the residents where financial statements, budgets, full council minutes, expenditure tracking can be done online, a move that will help achieve fiscal transparency among many of our local authorities in Zimbabwe. CIASA strongly believes that such a move will help build healthier communities as active participation of residents in council projects is a key cog for the development of any community,” the statement added.
Plans are already afoot to move towards the vision with the construction of a clinic at Makondo and construction of a primary school in a bid to improve healthcare and education.
Chiredzi town is located in Masvingo province, in the south eastern corner of the country and is 203km from Masvingo city, the provincial capital.
It is the administrative centre of Chiredzi district, which is the sugar producing hub of Zimbabwe.
It has a population of 303 503, according to the 2022 census.