THE Bulawayo City Council has formulated a policy designed
to raise foreign currency through giving a 50 percent discount to individuals
who pay bills in United States dollars after service providers allegedly
started demanding forex.
The local authority yesterday said the scheme mainly
targets diasporans who pay their bills directly to the municipality from their
foreign bases. Under the policy, BCC would also demand partial payment for land
in foreign currency.
Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni said in an
interview that the scheme was the only way council could keep providing
efficient service to residents. He said the policy now awaits Government
approval.
The Mayor said even locals who have access to foreign
currency would benefit from the policy.
“The policy is subject to confirmation by the Minister
(Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde July Moyo). It’s a
policy where we are saying that if you pay your bills in US dollars you get a
50 percent discount of what you owe. Let’s say you owe council $100, if you pay
$50 in US dollars the other $50 is scrapped,” said Clr Mguni.
“It’s something that we’re working on and it has sailed
through the Special Council Meeting. But we are mainly targeting the diaspora
community with properties in the city. They can directly pay their bills from
where they are. Some of these people, we believe, send their money to people
who are resident in the country. However, sometimes these people do not pay
their bills.”
He said the policy would see those intending to buy land
paying a particular percentage in foreign currency. Clr Mguni said council is
not in violation of Government policy as it accepts both bond notes and
electronic transfers.
But due to demand for foreign currency from its service
providers, he said, council should also be dynamic so that it continues to
offer efficient services.
“Our service providers are now charging us in forex so to
avoid having a situation where our stocks deplete to dangerous levels, we have
come up with this policy. We are aware of the policy that we should not charge
for our services in US dollars.
“That’s why we need the Minister to talk to his Finance
(Minister of Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube)
counterpart for it to be accepted,” said Clr Mguni.
The Mayor said the local authority has not received foreign
currency allocation from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe yet it buys some of its
chemicals from external suppliers.
He encouraged residents to pay their bills saying revenue
collections have drastically declined in the past few months. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment