News / National
Harare Mayor defends taking over Bulawayo
27 Jul 2019 at 16:33hrs | Views
HARARE mayor Herbert Gomba has said there is nothing wrong with City Parking being given a parking management tender by Bulawayo City Council (BCC), as the two local authorities have a long working relationship.
Bulawayo councillors are divided over who takes control of the parking management system in the city, among other tender and procurement processes, a development that has also seen government taking an interest in the matter and launching a probe into BCC's operations.
Reports indicate that one of the companies linked to the parking management system, Harare City Council's Easypark (City Parking) has made an unsolicited bid for a parking management tender.
Recent reports accused Easypark of allegedly pampering some Bulawayo councillors in a five-star hotel junket and other goodies in order to influence the tendering process.
"Residents and pressure groups must know that Harare and Bulawayo have had a long history of working together for the benefit of the two sister cities. History is full of occasions where councillors of both cities have travelled and learned from each other. More recently, Harare councillors from the environmental management committee went to learn about how waste was being managed in Bulawayo, the same with some councillors from that side," Gomba said.
"It's unfortunate that some would want to take this as an opportunity to score political points, yet these can sometimes be simple opportunities to transfer knowledge. Bulawayo to us is a city in Zimbabwe, which has city fathers who must interact with others in Harare. We also want our councillors and council to create synergies within Zimbabwe as we see no reason why we must promote external interactions at the expense of our internal programmes."
The parking management services tender in Bulawayo was cancelled in 2012 by the BCC despite having granted it to Megalithic Marketing Private Limited. The BCC cited a "shambolic tendering" process in cancelling the tender.
This resulted in a long court battle, with the company contesting council's decision to cancel the tender.
In April last year, BCC shortlisted Ducretion Logistics Pvt (Ltd) and Lauvax Trading Pvt (Ltd), trading as Propark – for consideration to manage the city's parking system, but the deal was never finalised.
Bulawayo councillors are divided over who takes control of the parking management system in the city, among other tender and procurement processes, a development that has also seen government taking an interest in the matter and launching a probe into BCC's operations.
Reports indicate that one of the companies linked to the parking management system, Harare City Council's Easypark (City Parking) has made an unsolicited bid for a parking management tender.
Recent reports accused Easypark of allegedly pampering some Bulawayo councillors in a five-star hotel junket and other goodies in order to influence the tendering process.
"It's unfortunate that some would want to take this as an opportunity to score political points, yet these can sometimes be simple opportunities to transfer knowledge. Bulawayo to us is a city in Zimbabwe, which has city fathers who must interact with others in Harare. We also want our councillors and council to create synergies within Zimbabwe as we see no reason why we must promote external interactions at the expense of our internal programmes."
The parking management services tender in Bulawayo was cancelled in 2012 by the BCC despite having granted it to Megalithic Marketing Private Limited. The BCC cited a "shambolic tendering" process in cancelling the tender.
This resulted in a long court battle, with the company contesting council's decision to cancel the tender.
In April last year, BCC shortlisted Ducretion Logistics Pvt (Ltd) and Lauvax Trading Pvt (Ltd), trading as Propark – for consideration to manage the city's parking system, but the deal was never finalised.
Source - newsday
