Zimpapers Logo

Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
GWANDA Municipality is set to introduce paid parking in the town by the end of this month.

In an interview, Gwanda Mayor Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu said motorists would be expected to pay $1 per hour, $14 per month if paid in advance and $40 for three months if also paid in advance. He said the development was part of efforts by the municipality to boost revenue collection and control the movement of vehicles.

“As a municipality we will be introducing parking fees in the CBD and then move outside town. We had planned to commence this initiative this week but we are still working on some modalities and we hope to have started implementing it before the end of the month.

“This is a route which a number of councils have taken. It will help us boost revenue collection for road maintenance works and also control the movement of vehicles within the town. At the moment we are also conducting an awareness exercise where we are informing people about the new development so they can be prepared,” said Cllr Ndlovu.

“Some motorists just park their cars and go for the whole day causing congestion in the CBD and in the process taking up space for motorists that have business to do in the CBD. These are some of the anomalies that we seek to address through the paid parking system.”

Cllr Ndlovu said the municipality was currently reconstructing roads in the CBD and main roads in residential areas.

“At the moment we are reconstructing tarred roads that had been severely damaged and putting tar on earth roads. We recently completed refilling tarred roads in the CBD. This work is being done courtesy of a $1 million grant that we received from Zinara for road maintenance.

“We have submitted a $4 million proposal to carry out road works next year and we hope that our request will be accepted. In the coming year we will continue with reconstruction of roads and tarring earth roads,” he said. — @DubeMatutu.