Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has organised a capacity-building training workshop for officials from Harare, Gwanda, Victoria Falls and Plumtree councils to help them collect data on infrastructutre and improve service delivery.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BCC spokesperson Nesisa Mpofu told Southern Eye last Friday that the training involved capturing data on water and sewage infrastructure using the Geographical Information System (GIS).
Mpofu said currently, Bulawayo was the only local authority using the software to capture, store, analyse and manage data on existing infrastructure.
“We are currently having a capacity building programme with other local authorities where we train and assist in setting up their own GIS sections. The ones we have assisted are Harare City Council, Gwanda, Victoria Falls and Plumtree municipalities,” Mpofu said.
She said the GIS was established in June 2011 a part of the city’s Water and Sanitation Emergency Response (BOSWER) project. This has resulted in the mapping of 85% of the city’s street lighting, 138 621 cadastral parcels, 93 456 water meters, roads and the water and sewer infrastructure.
Speaking during a recent visit to Bulawayo, Australian ambassador to Zimbabwe Suzanne McCourt commended the local authority for adopting the GIS system and urged other local authorities to follow suit to improve their service delivery operations.
