Harare City Council owes $ 792 million

Harare City Council has announced that it has reduced the debt it owes $809 million to $792 million. The Council reported that was aided by the 50 percent discount campaign which it ran, where residents where offered 50 per cent discount if they cleared their Owings during the campaign period.

"Harare City Council thanks all its stakeholders who participated in the 50 percent discount offer for the spirited efforts in clearing debts and ensuring that service delivery is maintained and sustained." The Council said in a statement.

"Before the 50 percent discount campaign collections averaged 12 million per month. We noticed an incremental improvement in collections during the campaign period.

"In August $12.3 million was collected with figure rising to $15.2 in September and 27.2 in October. In November we managed to collect 19 million. We have so far managed to reduce the debtors book from 809 million to 792 million."

Recently the Council announced that it had  engaged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to facilitate the release of $3,1 million meant for 16 refuse compactors being held by the supplier, FAW Group Corporation.

Harare has been failing to secure the foreign currency required to collect the refuse compactors which were bought from the automotive manufacturer early this year.

FAW has already delivered nine refuse trucks and 10 skip trucks using its own resources after it received $300 000 from the central bank.