THE Lusaka City Council (LCC) says it has recorded a steady increase in revenue collection in the Intercity Bus Terminus and the City Market which will be channeled towards the improvement of the public facilities.
LCC public relations manager Mwaka Nakweti said since taking over of facilities on August 16 to date, the council had collected K 56, 331 from Intercity Bus Terminus and an average of K 44, 976 from City Market.
She said in an interview yesterday that collections from Intercity Bus Terminus and City Market had increased by about 16 and 21 per cent respectively.
Ms. Nakweti said the revenue being collected was being collected at the major markets was being used to improve infrastructure and sanitation at the facilities while the other part of the revenue was being used for employee emoluments including arrears, operations and solid waste management.
“The taking over of running of bus stations and markets by LCC on August 12, 2021 has seen a significant rise in the revenue being collected in these facilities and the money is being used to recapitalize these markets and bus stations to ensure that infrastructure is improved,” she said.
Ms. Nakweti said the council was also looking to introduce e-levy system in markets and bus stations to help enhance revenue collection. She said the system once introduced would aid in eliminating cash
handling in the facilities which to a large extent was a major cause of leakages and would also help to do away with crooks who want to mint money they had not worked for.
Ms. Nakweti also disclosed that the council police recently apprehended people that were masquerading as council employees and collecting money from unsuspecting traders and bus operators.She said the council would soon invest in customer relations to ensure that the general public was furnished with information as and when it was needed.
This she said would aid the council to easily and quickly disseminate information to stakeholders to ensure they did not fall prey to scammers who would want to extort them of their hard earned money.
“We recognise that real time information is a catalyst to creating tangible relationships with clients and stakeholders,” Ms. Nakweti said.
She said the council was also in talks with the private sector to render support in areas where it lacked competence such as information management system which relates to revenue collection.
