MUTARE is operating with one fire tender and a single ambulance covering a population of approximately 260 000, according to the 2012 census.
This was revealed during a recent service delivery meeting by city deputy mayor Farai Bhiza.
City authorities recently came under fire from ratepayers for secretly purchasing top of the range vehicles for executives at the expense of service delivery.
Management has denied the claims saying the information was being peddled by “enemies of progress”.
“We have a single fire tender to cater for the city. It is far short of six which are required to service the entire city.
“We also have to service Rusape but in this case, it’s difficult if we have an accident on the outskirts of our city,” said the city father.
Bhiza also said the city was being serviced by one ambulance instead of three.
The population in Mutare has ballooned due to city expansion projects which have seen many people migrate to the urban area for better living conditions.
Bhiza said council was proposing to establish a fire station in Dangamvura high density suburb to assist the old facility in the city centre which was constructed in the then Rhodesia.
“Our city is expanding and it’s so sad we have one reliable ambulance to cover the entire city.
“As a city, we have procured a pick-up which will be converted into an ambulance. We need at least three reliable ambulances for now,” he said.
The deputy mayor said council has concluded the purchase of a new grader and a pneumatic roller for road rehabilitation exercise.
“The challenge, as we speak, is that council does not even own a grader but if you look, the city has expanded towards the border areas and Gimbok in Dangamvura.
“I am happy that the tender procedures to procure a new grader are now at an advanced stage.
“Our idea is to bring a permanent solution of maintaining our roads with tar and also even sell surplus tar to areas such as Chipinge,” he said.
He admitted that the road network in the city was in a deplorable state and they were now even using gravel to patch up roads in low density suburbs as a stop gap measure.