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Sharon Buwerimwe, Chronicle Reporter

THE Bulawayo City Council will this week start the 2020 budget consultation programme.

Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube, in a statement yesterday said budget consultation meetings would cover the city’s 29 wards between Friday this week and August 20.

“Clr Joyce Ndlovu will be facilitating the meeting at Richmond Hall, Trenance Hall, Hugh Beadle Primary School, Baines Junior School, Newmansford Primary School and Montgomery Hall in Ward 2,” read the statement.

“Clr Tinashe Kambarami of Ward 3 will be at Thomas Rudland Primary School, Mahatshula Primary School, and Zimbabwe School of Mines and Woodville Primary School.  Ward 4 Clr Silas Chigora will be facilitating at Church of Christ and Sandra Jones. Clr Felix Mhaka at Municipality Sports club, Clr Tawanda Ruzive at Bellevue Recreation, Clr Shadreck Sibanda at Stanley Hall, Clr Ronniah Mudara at McDonald Hall, Clr Donaldson Mabuto at Mpopoma Hall, Clr Sinikiwe Mutanda at Entumbane Hall, Clr Pilate Moyo at Emakhandeni Hall, Clr Lilian Mlilo at Njube Hall, Clr Frank Javangwe at Iminyela Hall, Clr MacDonald Venas Chunga at Lobengula Hall, Clr Febbie Msipa at Beit-Hall, Clr Mildred Ncube at Inzwananzi Primary School, Clr Sikhulekile Moyo at Mazwi tent.”

Stakeholders who are expected to attend the meetings include transport operators, youths, business communities, civil society organisations, residents’ associations and informal traders.

 The local authority’s senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, said it was important for residents to take the budget consultation seriously as it gives council an opportunity to participate in decision making processes for the city. 

“ It’s important for residents to be part of the consultation process as they are able to input into the 2020 budget and also participate in decision making for the city. The budget has an impact on service delivery of the city and their contributions help map the way forward. We encourage residents to fully participate as they are key in inputting priorities for next year’s budget and also contributing on areas of service delivery they wish to see being prioritised next year,” she said.

Meanwhile, BCC will uphold suspension of the water shedding programme that was introduced in February as the local authority reported major progress in the rehabilitation of the Criterion Water Works. 

The suspension comes after the raw water holding reservoir at Criterion, which is Bulawayo’s buffer, continued to gain in volume.

In a statement Mr Dube said council has been monitoring water consumption and service reservoir levels for the past weeks.

“The average water consumption levels has been 143mega litres a day against a target of 130mega litres per day with a maximum of 173 mega litre a day and a minimum of 129 mega litres per day over the period,” read the statement.

The Town Clerk said a household in the western suburbs is supposed to consume a maximum of 13,5 kilo litres per month, low density suburbs inclusive of cottages and workers cottages should not exceed 19,5 kilo litres per month while residential flats with individual meters should not use more than 400 litres a day.

He encouraged residents to conserve water to avoid depleting the service reservoirs. —  @sharonbuwe.