BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) says constant power outages are causing revenue losses.
Latest council minutes state that for the past few weeks, council has been losing revenue due to malfunctioning swiping machines during power outages, resulting in ratepayers failing to pay bills.
“Unavailability of electricity has adversely affected service delivery,” the minutes read.
“The fire and ambulance section has not been responding to emergency calls on time because the means of communication will be down, resulting in fatalities.”
Councillors suggested that fire stations and revenue halls be powered by generators or solar.
Councillor Mlandu Ncube said council should introduce mobile revenue collection points, especially in high-density suburbs to improve revenue collection.
Giving an example of the fast-growing population of Emganwini, he said a revenue collection point had to be established in the suburb because the residents were currently relying on the Nketa housing office to pay bills.
“Generators should be procured as a way of alleviating power challenges,” Ncube said.
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“Councillor Felix Mhaka emphasised the need to further pursue strategies which will improve council’s revenue collection methods,” the minutes further read.
Councillors also suggested that a fleet of vehicles must be purchased for the financial services department to aid in effective revenue collection.
The minutes also said procurement of vehicles had almost been finalised, adding that they would be delivered in due course.
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