Chantel Takudzwa Zambukira and Brighton Zimidzi
The Bulawayo City Council has revealed that they are ten thousand vending bays around the Central Business District (CBD) that traders have been ignoring opting to operate from undesignated sites.
This was revealed by Town Clerk Christopher Dube during meetings the city father’s held with bus operators and political parties on Monday.
The meetings were held ahead of an operation to curb illegal activities contributing to congestion, chaos and littering in the city set to begin on Wednesday.
“We as the City Council, have reached a point where we say enough is enough. We have consulted stakeholders which include transport operators (Inter-City, local and cross border), vendors and now we are engaging political party members to suggest on how to tackle the issue of garbage and dirt,” said Christopher Dube.
“There are ten thousand vacant vending bays around Bulawayo where vendors can go and do their business. Vendors can come to us so that we allocate them these bays,” he added.
Speaking during the same meeting, the Director of Town Planning, Wisdom Siziba also announced that haulage trucks should stick to designated routes.
“In the aspect of big trucks that are over nine tones we do not expect them to travel through the city on any road. This is because some of the roads in the city were not designed for these trucks. We do not want these trucks in residential areas,’ said Siziba.
Council disclosed that haulage trucks should use Masotsha Ndlovu and Lady Stanley Avenue among others.