Gweru Mayor, Josiah Makombe has revealed that the rapid expansion of peri-urban settlements has had an adverse impact on the city’s provision of water and sewer services.
Makombe said:
The current mushrooming of peri-urban settlements, which has put pressure on mainly water and sewer infrastructure is attributed to the absence of an operational master plan.
The Mayor was speaking during a service level benchmarking (SLB) peer review meeting on Friday last week.
Makombe indicated the need to and importance of merging town extensions with the council’s master plan. He said:
Here in Gweru, the development of Woodlands suburb has exerted a lot of pressure on the local authority, because there were no prior plans to incorporate its water and waste needs. Going forward, that should be avoided at all costs.
There has been a sharp increase in the development of residential settlements around the city lately.
This has been identified as one of the variables causing poor service delivery in areas such as water supply, sanitation, and health.
Related:
More: News Day