BULAWAYO residents have urged the city council to stop outsourcing jobs to private contractors without a track record saying they cost the local authority millions of dollars in shoddy work.
The local authority has been contracting private companies for several projects due to lack of equipment, but most of the projects were either left unfinished or done shoddily.
Some of the projects that have been a disappointment to the residents are Egodini Mall, Emhlangeni Project and the Tendy Three Investments (TTI) vehicle parking management system and housing development projects, among others.
Council contracted a South African company, Terracotta Trading (Private) Limited for the Egodini Mall project in 2016 to redesign the Basch Street terminus and turn it into a multi-purpose mall under a build, operate and transfer arrangement.
The project has continued to drag without significant progress being made.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association chairperson Ambrose Sibindi said as residents, they did not approve of the use of the use of contractors to do council work as most of their work was shoddy.
“We are against private contractors because we believe they are expensive. They also do poor jobs. Council must do its own jobs because it is much cheaper, plus council did quality jobs the time it was doing construction unlike private contractors,” Sibindi said.
He accused the council of “just hiring contractors without due diligence”.
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In reponse, deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube said as council, they also wish to stop using private contractors, but lack of resources precludes them from doing so.
“It is hard to do the jobs on our own. As a result, we are forced to hire (private contractors.) There are areas to be serviced by the council but private contractors make it easier to do so as they have machines which council does not have,” Ncube said.
He said they were trying to raise money for equipment to enable council to undertake the projects on its own.
