Diana Nherera
The City of Harare is owed ZiG 9,5 billion, with commerce and industry each accounting for 13 percent, residential property owners 56 percent, Government 3,4 percent, parastatals 1,3 percent, Zesa 7,1 percent and dormitory towns 5,2 percent.
Speaking at a revenue collection workshop recently, acting revenue manager, Mr Alfred Guni said the installation of prepaid water meters presents the council with an opportunity to recover debts without having to incur serious costs because it can disconnect the prepaid meters remotely from its offices.
He said the water meters should be used to collect revenue.
“At the moment everyone who has a smart meter installed is only paying for water and not paying their rates. Water is only a small component of the consolidated bill.
“It means residents ignore 75 percent of the bill and just pay for water only,” said Mr Guni.
He said the use of domestic properties for commercial purposes is rampant in suburbs around town and even in suburbs such as Waterfalls.
“You find in Milton Park, there are properties designated as domestic but operating as commercial,” said Mr Guni.
He said the city is losing considerable revenue from people using domestic properties for commercial purposes.
Mr Guni said there are a lot of built-up spaces that are not being charged in Harare.
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