Don’t bite more than you can chew, city urged

MUTARE City Council should set developmental targets that are achievable in a short space of time, a Government official has said.

In an interview with The Herald during a tour to assess progress on identified quick-win projects in Mutare last week, provincial administrator for Manicaland Mr Edgar Seenza said the City of Mutare should disaggregate the projects that they were doing within a given space of time.

Progress on the projects was being assessed by internal auditors from the Ministry of Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

Chief internal auditor with the ministry Mr Angel Nyoni appreciated the projects being done by Mutare City Council but stressed that they should embark on projects they can complete especially with the commitment to meet their 100-day targets.

Mr Nyoni said: “Mutare City Council is actually doing well by embarking on projects that give value to the community and projects that really improve service delivery in the areas of road construction, water and sewer reticulation as well as education infrastructure in their 100-day quick-win targeted projects.”

Mutare City Council spokesperson Mr Spren Mutiwi concurred with the provincial administrator saying they would focus on integrating the projects and acting on them to ensure they were completed on time.

“Projects such as the Christmas Pass to Dangamvura 450mm diameter water pipeline in Mutare South which are near completion, are being held back by challenges of foreign currency shortages but have created over 30 jobs.

“On the issue of foreign currency challenges, Mutare City Town Clerk Mr Joshua Maligwa said city council would open a foreign currency account by the end of this month and had also secured funding to proceed with the projects.

“We will soon be opening a new foreign currency bank account by the end of this month so that we get foreign currency to buy some of the equipment that requires foreign currency,” he said.

However, a few projects are now 100 percent complete.

These include the rehabilitation of the 225mm sewer crossing at Nyamauru in Dangamvura, which was rehabilitated to the tune of $7 000, as well as the repairing of the 375mm diameter sewer river crossing along Hobhouse line and the surfacing of 3,4km of Jelf Road and 2,5km of Blessing Makunike Road in Chikanga 3 at a cost of $1 million.

The auditors and provincial administrator’s tour also accorded them the chance to see projects such as the new Hobhouse Primary School that is under construction, Fern Valley Primary School and Jelf Road.