51% of Bulawayo City Council vehicle fleet grounded

AT least 51 percent of Bulawayo City Council's (BCC) 336 vehicles have outlived their lifespan, a development that is affecting service delivery.

This is contained in the latest council report released last Wednesday.

"Bulawayo City Council has a complement of 336 vehicles including heavy plant, generators, motorbikes, serviced and maintained under four workshops, namely; Ambulance and Fire Brigade Famona, 13 Ave Transport Workshop, Roads Workshop and Cleansing Workshop. The above tabulated data shows that 49 percent of the city vehicles and plant are within economic lifespan while 51 percent constitute of vehicles and plant that are earmarked for auction and delivery of spares," reads the report.

The report shows that the council has 12 ambulances and only seven are operational and 11 water tenders of which seven are dysfunctional.

The council has 14 refuse trucks and only eight of them are operational.

The local authority said it is in the process of replacing the obsolete fleet and this is done in phases.

The shortage of council's vehicles is said to be affecting service delivery.

"The City has a number of equipment and plant that are down. Due to this, five of these that are essential in road constructions and landfill site were identified for refurbishment. These construction plant need urgent refurbishment to bring them back to their working condition and this led to the award of a tender for the refurbishment of five mechanical plant," reads the report.

"The refurbishment process is still in progress. Meanwhile, the departments and sections affected by the shortage of plant were advised to subcontract or use third party logistics while awaiting the delivery of new construction plant and completion of the refurbishment process."