By Nangamso Mabindla
3 May 2004

THE PURCHASE of the Old Mutual building in the East London CBD would centralise Buffalo City municipality's finance department, improving customer relations and service delivery, said Asset and Risk general manager Eddie Mqonywa.

Before the acquisition of the new building at a cost of R7,4-million, the finance directorate, which plans to move to the new building at the corner of Oxford and Terminus streets on 1 June, had offices operating from various buildings scattered around the city.

"It's not good for a directorate like finance to be in different buildings. We will be able to monitor other departments within finance better and our customers will have a central point to go to in order to be serviced," Mqonywa said.

The finance directorate had been based in the Trust Centre Building on the corner of North and Oxford Streets, with other departments like Assets and Risk operating from the Munifin building.

Mqonywa said the move was strategic in that two other municipal buildings were nearby: the Munifin building on the corner of Oxford Street and Caxton Streets and the Engineering Building, opposite Munifin, in Oxford Street.

Work to refurbish offices in the new building was expected to be completed by the end of May.