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Mrs Nesisa Mpofu

Prince Sunduzani, Chronicle Reporter
Bulawayo City Council scooped two awards at the Local Government Investment Conference (Logic) awards held in Harare this week.

The conference started on Tuesday and it brought together local authorities in the country with focus on investment promotion, infrastructure development and service delivery.

Bulawayo walked away with a solid waste management award and another for development control.

Bulawayo City Council senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the awards maintained the city’s status as a leader in local governance issues.

“We are honoured to have received these awards. As a city it means that we are on the right track in moving forward with development. Bulawayo has always prided itself of being a leader in local governance. It’s showing that we can and should remain focused to improve our city and environment in which residents and businesses find themselves in,” said Mrs Mpofu.

She attributed the success to innovation and involving all stakeholders in dealing with waste.

Mrs Mpofu said the local authority has come up with various community engagement innovations to improve waste management and to address lack of resources such as trucks.

The initiatives, she said, have seen the city improve its refuse collection from twice a month to weekly.

“We have come up with solid waste management innovations such as community truckers and sweeping groups,” she said.

“Also there is a stakeholder platform called the Bulawayo Solid Waste Improvement platform which includes BCC, Government departments, churches, schools and businesses. It meets regularly to monitor and improve the cleanliness of the city. They work with schools to do clean ups and education on waste management.”

The development control award looks at the management of estates like land, public transportation, management of open spaces and planning.

Mrs Mpofu said the local authority excelled in this area due to its policies for public transportation management among others.

“We came up with a public transport policy which is basically trying to rearrange the public transport system.We have a structured manner to engage companies and individual operators, allowing people to form and operate as companies in order to create order in the transport system,” said Mrs Mpofu

She said the city is committed to improve and become internationally renowned.

“We want to improve and compete with other international cities. These awards motivate us but they do not allow us to rest on our laurels.” — @PrinceNkosy102