HARARE - A group of American students are in the country to help the City of Harare in town planning and settlement structuring in the wake of service delivery woes by residents.

The 15 students studying Town Planning at the University of Pennsylvania and another group of Chinese landscapers will for a week discuss strategies to deal with Harare’s problems.

“Harare statistics are terrible, this workshop is necessary as it will bring solutions and help our planners to redeem our city in the next 30 years,” said Psychology Chiwanga, the director of Urban Planning Services in Harare.

Council has been under fire for failing to provide efficient services despite charging high rates. The city fathers have also been blamed for the continued outbreak of water-borne diseases, owing to their failure to collect garbage and supply running water.

The planners will give their solutions on Friday. Also being discussed is the now non-existent public transport in the city, pressure on cemetery lands and how government may overcome the disaster unfolding in Harare.

Local planners attending the workshop complained that accessing data for planning purposes is a nightmare as the country does not have a geographical information system.