BY SILAS NKALA BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has said it will only respond to a petition by motorists, residents and the business community on the controversial vehicle parking management system next month since a comprehensive response was required.
In a petition on Monday, residents condemned the vehicle parking fee of US$1 per hour as exorbitant and demand council to respond within 72 hours.
They also raised questions over how BCC contracted Tendy Three Investment (TTI) (Pvt) (Ltd) without consulting them.
In his brief response dated August 25, town clerk Christopher Dube said the council would be able to respond to the petition on September 2.
“We acknowledge receipt of your petition on August 22. We note that the council was given 72 hours to respond to the issue raised therein. Unfortunately, we are unable to meet that deadline in view of the fact that the petition raises a number of issues that require a detailed response,” Dube said.
“In light of that we will be sending a detailed response by September 2.”
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In their petition, the residents accused the local authority of failing to consult them before rolling out the controversial vehicle parking system.
“This is being done through questionable tender processes and without contract disclosure to the public. Awarding TTI the Bulawayo central business district (CBD) parking system tender was a clear sign that council leadership was not thorough enough in its selection criteria. They contravened section 298 (Public Finance Management Act),” read the petition.
“In past years, council was in the habit of approaching businesses in the CBD on matters it considered important, which had a positive bearing on business development in the city such as the Annual Open Street Mall which the business community seconded.”
The petitioners called for the cancellation of the tender after condemning it as corrupt.
“As motoring residents in Bulawayo, we demand that the new parking system being run under a partnership between BCC and TTI be suspended with immediate effect until full details of the story are made public. This includes council declaring the date of incorporation and (publishing a) full list of board of directors of TTI,” read the petition.
They also called on the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate how the parking tender was awarded.
“We demand that the parking space in the city centre be opened to the motoring public while negotiations between the residents and council are going on. A period of 30 days must be set aside as the time-frame to conclude all negotiations to do with Bulawayo city parking”
BCC contracted TTI this year under the US$2 million public-private partnership tender based on a build, operate and transfer agreement.
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