THE Bulawayo City Council could rake in more than $80 000 from the sale of 17 stands to the Watch Tower and Tract Society based in Pennsylvania, United States.
CHIEF REPORTER
In 2014, the church, which has a huge presence in the city, made an application to council to purchase the stands.
The price tags range from $2 600 to $9 900 depending on the size and the total cost is $85 580.
Sixteen of the stands are in high-density suburbs with only one in the low-density.
In January, the local authority resolved to sell the stands to the church with one of the conditions being that the land would be used only for church purposes.
In a notice, council said any resident with objections should lodge them before March 20. On a monthly basis, council handles several applications for land from religious groupings.
With a housing backlog of over 100 000, council last year managed to service just over 1 000 residential stands owing to resource constraints.
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The local authority serviced 700 stands in Pumula South, 391 in Emhlangeni and 300 in Mahatshula during the course of 2014, bringing the total to 1 391. Of the 1 391, only 300 were fully serviced in Mahatshula.
In the same period, council managed to allocate a total of 2 572 stands in Cowdray Park Hlalani Kuhle, while 1 050 stands were identified and are pending allocation at Emhlangeni Phase II medium density and Magwegwe North high-density suburbs.
