Suburban
THE Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association needs to raise US$15 000 to resuscitate broken down City of Harare refuse trucks and improve refuse collection in Wards 18 and 42.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
The residents body has initiated a plan to take over the repairing and maintenance of City of Harare refuse trucks on condition the trucks will be dedicated to collecting refuse in the Borrowdale and Hatcliffe (Ward 42) areas before they are deployed elsewhere.
Discussions are currently underway between the BRRA and the City of Harare to craft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which both parties will sign to pave way for the residents’ body to help the municipality revive the trucks and maintain them thereafter.
In an appeal to residents, the BRRA is urging all Harare North ratepayers to take ownership of their communities and work together on this initiative as they will need to fund raise money for the repairs and maintenance of the refuse trucks.
“We can take the burden off CoH (City of Harare) shoulders for the time being allowing them to use resources in other critical areas in the wards. It is not going to be easy and we would want residents to participate in our fundraising activities. We acknowledge the relentless support we always get from corporates as well as individual sponsors and well-wishers within our wards but this time we would want all residents to take ownership. We shall have to fundraise for this initiative as close to US$15 000 is required just for the repairs and then the maintenance thereafter,” the BRRA said in a statement.
The residents’ body also urged ratepayers to keep paying their bills to capacitate council and facilitate mobilisation and allocation of resources for service delivery.
“Residents will have to continue paying their rates while we push for more resource allocation from the 25 percent retention of rates also still being negotiated. We would also want to ask residents to pay their annual subscriptions to the BRRA as some of the funds go towards such community programmes which benefit all people,” the BRRA said.
As part of the devolution policy, residents of Harare have been appealing to the City of Harare to release the 25 percent ward retention scheme from what ratepayers, in a particular ward, would have in paid in rates and other charges to fund development at the ward level.
Council introduced the scheme a few years ago but it has failed to take off either because ratepayers are not paying their dues in full/on time or where payments are being made council has not been releasing the funds.
The BRRA said refuse collection was one of the key services required by residents but due to frequent equipment breakdowns, the City of Harare’s fleet was depleted disabling the local authority from efficiently collecting garbage from households.
This has led to garbage piling up in the neighbourhoods putting residents at risk of outbreaks of communicable diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhea.
In view of this state of affairs, the BRRA executive on behalf of the Harare North community is engaged in negotiations with the municipality in an effort to repair, adopt and maintain refuse trucks dedicated to Wards 18 and 42.
Ward 18 is made up of Borrowdale, Borrowdale Brooke, Helensvale, Glen Lorne, Umwinsidale, Greystone Park, Ballantyne Park, Colne Valley, Rolf Valley and surrounding suburbs while Ward 42 is made up of Hatcliffe.
BRRA chairperson Mr Robert Mutyasira told Suburban this week that their plan to adopt refuse trucks will be guided by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the body will thrash out with council.
“We are therefore in the process of negotiations with the local authority with regards to the broken down refuse collection trucks. The plan is to take care of the repairs needed on these vehicles and, through a Memorandum of Understanding between BRRA and City of Harare, have these them dedicated to Wards 18 and 42 which cover Borrowdale and Hatcliffe,” he said.
“Once the MOU has been signed the trucks will be moved to a repair centre and work on them will immediately commence. There are resources set aside to get at least one of these vehicles on the road in the shortest possible time.
Details of the modalities of the arrangement will be released after signatures have been appended on the MOU,” said Mr Mutyasira.
The BRRA official said they could not hide their joy over this positive development as it is something they have been fighting for as a residents’ body. The residents’ body expects the City of Harare to be responsible for refuse collection as it is their mandate to do so but they have decided to be pragmatic and make the best use of what is there to mitigate the situation.
