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Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent

ZIBAGWE Rural District Council (RDC) says its enhanced revenue collection measures have started bearing positive results as it moves towards beefing up its coffers and subsequently improving service delivery.

Among other measures, the rural authority has started conducting ward-based revenue collection targeting farmers and households, as well as mine inspections and follow ups on payments.

The development comes as the council is struggling to recover a total of $292,2million it is owed by debtors, a development that threatens service delivery. The local authority is also struggling to settle a $95 million credit to service providers.

Speaking during a recent full council meeting, chief executive officer, Mr Farayi Desmond Machaya, said the latest measures were already yielding positive results.

“We conducted ward-based revenue collection in wards 1,2,5, 30,31 and realized a total of $1,5 million out of a $57,6 million worth of invoices submitted to the farmers. There is a need to visit the same wards again to improve collections,” he said.

“Our efforts are beginning to pay dividends as we have managed to urge Jena Mines, being our major debtors, to start honoring its obligations to the council.”

Mr Machaya said follow ups on mines alone saw invoices amounting to $9,1 million being dispatched to respective miners.

Wards 5,9, 15, 24 and 25 produced a total of $854 000 with Mr Machaya saying there was need to do the same in the rest of the 33 wards before year end. He said as a result, revenue collection had improved.

“The cumulative revenue collected to date is $196 million, which translates to 43 percent of our local revenue budget of $454 million. Revenue collected for the 3^rd quarter under review totaled $139 million, which is $25,6 million in excess of our third quarter projection for the year.

“We owe this largely to our endeavors as well as the effectiveness of changes in the exchange rate during the period under review.”

Mr Machaya said the complete opening of the economy after Covid-19 induced lockdowns was also cascading to local authorities.

“The complete opening of the economy has seen a general improvement in economic activity, thus, alleviating the uncertainty that had been long-standing.

“As we regain lost productivity, we expect nominal GDP growth and general macro-economic stability,” he said.

Mr Machaya said as the economy recovers, as is the public sector.

“We expect an improvement in the revenue inflows that must translate to increased resources for service delivery,” he said.