THE Bulawayo City Council has bowed down to pressure by residents and other interested parties angered by a city decision to award a parking management tender to the Harare City Council owned Easy Park amid signs a local firm could now be favoured with the lucrative deal.
Speaking at the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) organised policy dialogue indaba on council’s private contracting processes, the council’s Finance Committee chairperson, Silas Chigora confirmed the cancellation.
“We have opened expressions of tenders from Bulawayo companies and others from throughout the country to provide parking management services for the city.
“The deadline for the submission of tendering documents is February 20 2020,” Chigora told stakeholders attending the dialogue on Friday.
Chigora hinted a Bulawayo based company may be considered for the tender this time around.
“The parking meter system is coming very soon and we believe it will benefit the people of Bulawayo,” added Chigora.
In 2012, the city council granted the parking management services tender to Megalithic Marketing Private Limited but again cancelled the tender with authorities citing a “shambolic tendering” process.
The company sued the city council following the cancellation of the tender and awarded it to Easypark.
Some Bulawayo councillors were last year accused of receiving bribes from Easypark management in order to influence the tendering process.
Commenting on the awarding of the tender to the capital city last year, Harare mayor Herbert Gomba urged those opposed to the move to consider the relationships the two cities have.
“Residents and pressure groups must know that Harare and Bulawayo have had a long history of working together for the benefit of the two sister cities.
“History is full of occasions where councillors of both cities have travelled and learned from each other. More recently, Harare councillors from the environmental management committee went to learn about how waste was being managed in Bulawayo, the same with some councillors from that side,” Gomba said.
