News / Local
Bulawayo, Umguza in boundary wars
14 Jun 2014 at 14:44hrs | Views
Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and Umguza Rural District Council are deadlocked in metropolitan boundary wars, a situation that has left some rate paying residents in a quandary as they cannot access water and sanitary provisions.
It is understood that the ministry of Local Government is yet to preside over the boundary deliberations.
Residents of Mbundane, a high density area after Emganwini and Emthunzini, adjacent to Pumula South, have been living without basic amenities such as water and sewer despite all the pipework having been laid down because of the feud between BCC and Umguza RDC.
According to the Presidential Proclamation 15E of 2004, Bulawayo and Harare received the metropolitan province status, giving them a 40km radius from the then set boundaries but Bulawayo is yet to fully put this into practice.
Last week residents of Emthunzini complained of open sewage ponds in the vicinity that have caused a serious health hazard due to the stench and flies emanating from them.
Residents also reported that they were usually met with difficulties in emergency cases whenever fire erupts or a person needs to be ferried to hospital as they were told these services have to be provided from Umguza, which is 120km away.
A contractor for the high density suburb, Hawkflight Construction, said he was caught in-between the Umguza and BCC feud and resultantly, has not been able to connect sewer and water pipes to Bulawayo's main system.
Emthunzini has been without water for the past three years while Mbundane has gone for more than five years without water and sewer reticulation systems.
"We have been forced to build these temporary sewer ponds because we cannot connect to Bulawayo's main sewer as we are said to be under Umguza RDC.
"There are problems between Umguza and BCC in terms of boundaries but we are told that the Bulawayo town planner is resolving the issue," said Hawkflight operations manager Martin Moyo.
Contacted for comment, Bulawayo mayor Martin Moyo said the boundary negotiations had been stalled due to dollarisation as there was supposed to be an exchange of money and land between the two councils.
"The metropolitan boundaries issue was stalled due to dollarisation. The figures involved became astronomical but we hope to sit down again and revalue some of the land that is under the metropolitan jurisdiction," he said.
Other affected districts in the metropolitan province are Matobo to the south-west, Bubi to the south-east, uMzingwane to the south, Mangwe, and to a greater extent, uMguza to the north.
Umguza chief executive officer, Collen Moyo, said BCC declined to connect Mbundane and Emthunzini residents to their water and sewer systems because of pending negotiations on boundaries.
It is understood that the ministry of Local Government is yet to preside over the boundary deliberations.
Residents of Mbundane, a high density area after Emganwini and Emthunzini, adjacent to Pumula South, have been living without basic amenities such as water and sewer despite all the pipework having been laid down because of the feud between BCC and Umguza RDC.
According to the Presidential Proclamation 15E of 2004, Bulawayo and Harare received the metropolitan province status, giving them a 40km radius from the then set boundaries but Bulawayo is yet to fully put this into practice.
Last week residents of Emthunzini complained of open sewage ponds in the vicinity that have caused a serious health hazard due to the stench and flies emanating from them.
Residents also reported that they were usually met with difficulties in emergency cases whenever fire erupts or a person needs to be ferried to hospital as they were told these services have to be provided from Umguza, which is 120km away.
A contractor for the high density suburb, Hawkflight Construction, said he was caught in-between the Umguza and BCC feud and resultantly, has not been able to connect sewer and water pipes to Bulawayo's main system.
Emthunzini has been without water for the past three years while Mbundane has gone for more than five years without water and sewer reticulation systems.
"We have been forced to build these temporary sewer ponds because we cannot connect to Bulawayo's main sewer as we are said to be under Umguza RDC.
"There are problems between Umguza and BCC in terms of boundaries but we are told that the Bulawayo town planner is resolving the issue," said Hawkflight operations manager Martin Moyo.
Contacted for comment, Bulawayo mayor Martin Moyo said the boundary negotiations had been stalled due to dollarisation as there was supposed to be an exchange of money and land between the two councils.
"The metropolitan boundaries issue was stalled due to dollarisation. The figures involved became astronomical but we hope to sit down again and revalue some of the land that is under the metropolitan jurisdiction," he said.
Other affected districts in the metropolitan province are Matobo to the south-west, Bubi to the south-east, uMzingwane to the south, Mangwe, and to a greater extent, uMguza to the north.
Umguza chief executive officer, Collen Moyo, said BCC declined to connect Mbundane and Emthunzini residents to their water and sewer systems because of pending negotiations on boundaries.
Source - Zim Mail
