CHIPINGE Town Council says it will soon introduce a scheme where residents will have 50% of their bills written off after paying half of the bills.
OBEY MANAYITI
Chipinge town chairman Solomon Machingura told NewsDay yesterday that consultations were underway with relevant authorities to introduce the scheme which is aimed at recouping $2,5 million in unpaid bills.
Since 2000, the eastern border town has been facing service delivery challenges after residents stopped paying rates claiming they were too high.
“We are owed close to $2,5 million by our residents and the business community in Chipinge. As council, we have adopted an open door policy whereby we intend to incentivise the residents by slashing their debts by 50%,” Machingura said.
“We have come to a conclusion that we have bad debts in our books, but if we manage to slash some of the bills, we hope to get a positive response. “We understand that some local authorities have done the same and we are looking at how they implemented it.”
Among other problems, Chipinge town is battling to improve water delivery, poor road network and refuse collection.
Machingura said if they got funding they would prioritise water services in a bid to avoid the outbreak of water-borne diseases.
