Masvingo aims to develop land for 150 houses in 100 days

THE Masvingo City Council has set a target to develop land for more than 150 housing units in its 100 day plan. The local authority will also rehabilitate and maintain about 200 km of road networks in the city and also quantify the amount of water lost thorough leakages and pipe bursts.

Acting chamber secretary Mr Vitalis Shonhayi said the local authority has embraced President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s 100 day plan and is engaging partners to achieve its dream of addressing housing challenges in the city.

“We are working towards achieving a target of developing land for 154 housing units. We are also working on addressing the challenges to do with water supply and rehabilitation of roads,” said Mr Shonhayi.

“We have realised that council is losing potential revenue through water leakages and pipe bursts. In relation to this we will carry out an exercise to ascertain how much water is lost and come up with mechanisms to account for the loss in monetary terms. After acquiring earth moving machinery for road rehabilitation and maintenance, we are going to attend to more than 100 km of road network within the same period,” he said.

Mr Shonhayi said council should intensify efforts to recover all outstanding debts from its clients saying engagements with the Government over parastatals’ bills were in progress and hopes were high that most of the money will be paid.

“We are devising an effective mechanism to recover outstanding debts from residents and that include engaging debt collectors as well as agreeing on payment plans with the concerned debtors. Our aim is to be able to increase revenue collection rate from 67 percent to at least 90 percent.”

President Mnangagwa has suggested a 100 day plan, as a way to bring new social and economic order in the country with all workers in government expected to put their shoulders on the wheel to achieve positive change.—@walterbmswazie3