BULAWAYO – The Bulawayo City Council has passed a $212 million budget for 2019 with a focus on water, cutting fat expenditure and providing efficient service delivery.

The budget will be financed through a five percent tariff increase, the first since 2015 when tariffs went up by four percent.

To pass the budget, councillors voted 16-14.

The budget will be channeled to the following key priority areas: water, health, sewerage, housing, roads, education, public lighting, social services and fire and ambulance, as demanded by residents.

Presenting the 2019 budget at a special council meeting Tuesday, the Chairman of the Finance committee, Councilor Silas Chigora, said the budget had to meet the serious challenges Bulawayo was faced with that affect the quality of service delivery.

“In particular, a lot of treated water is lost though pipe bursts due to aged infrastructure. Sewerage spillages should also be avoided so as to keep diseases such as cholera out of Bulawayo. Although our roads accessibility has improved, more still needs to be done if we are to live up to our vision,” he said.

With a total $212,462,743, the budget consists of revenue of $116,599,243 and capital of $95,863,500.

“For the proposed budget to deliver services to the residents, it has to be financed through tariff increases. Council is aware of the plight of residents thus council has to balance the level of service delivery and tariff affordability,” Chigora said.

“The increase in grave charges would assist council in maintenance of cemeteries. Council carries the responsibility of maintaining cemeteries in perpetuity and this increase will go a long way in making sure there is proper maintenance. Going forward, cremation will be encouraged and fees for the same revised downwards.”

Bulawayo’s capital budget financing for 2019 is pegged at $95,863,500, of which the bulk of the finance will come from the African Development Bank Grant (AfDB).

The breakdown is as follows: AfDB grant $24,500,000; presale scheme $29,763,500; new borrowing powers $26,000,000; existing borrowing powers $5,600,000; pipeline levy $2,000,000; revenue contribution $4,800,000 and ward retention $3,200,000

The capital budget is biased towards water and sanitation works which are funded from the grant advanced by the African Development Bank.

This will see sewer reticulation works undertaken in Cowdray Park and Nkulumane.

“The grant will go a long way in improving our water and sanitation infrastructure. The successful implementation of policy measures proposed in this budget will no doubt require full participation of our partners, rate payers and all our stakeholders,” said Chigora.

“Our city has good records of astute stewardship in the utilisation of limited resources, we need to uphold that good name. It is important therefore that as we interrogate this Budget we don’t lose focus where we want to go as a city. The budget activities and our priorities list should motivate all of us to walk this painful journey to glory.”