$660m for Manicaland’s roads

MANICALAND received the second largest chunk of the $5 billion disbursed by the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) for road rehabilitation and maintenance during the first quarter of this year, it has been established.

A total of $664 352 204, 66 was disbursed to the three urban authorities of Mutare, Chipinge, Rusape, the seven rural district councils (Buhera, Chimanimani, Chipinge, Makoni, Mutare, Mutasa and Nyanga) and the Department of Roads.

Among the local authorities, Mutare City Council received the biggest allocation of $16 million, followed by Chimanimani ($15m), Mutare Rural ($13m), Mutasa ($12,6m), Nyanga ($5m) and Chipinge Town ($4,9m).

Chipinge Rural, Buhera and Makoni all received $4,4m apiece, while Rusape Town received $4,2m.

The Department of Roads had the lion’s share of $578,5m and is expected to embark on long-awaited projects like the Birchenough-Murambinda, Nyanga-Ruwangwe (Bhinya), Birchenough-Chipinge-Mt Selinda and Cashel-Chimanimani-Chikukwa roads this month.

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister, Honourable Felix Mhona said the country’s roads are the heartbeat of development.

“It is not a secret that most of our roads were not attended to in the past seven years and I want to thank the Second Republic for making sure that no one and no place is left behind in terms of infrastructure development.

‘‘In 2021, no province or district was not adequately covered in terms of funds disbursements,” said Minister Mhona.

He added: “Under ERRP2, the Department of Roads has taken over major roads in urban local authorities to expedite the maintenance and repair works, with provincial road engineers superintending over all roads within their respective provinces.

“I want to acknowledge and appreciate Zinara’s efforts in making sure that disbursements are done timeously. The alignment of Zinara to its mandate is now bearing fruits.

“Going into 2022, Government, through Zinara, will expedite funding to all road authorities to ensure that more ground is covered in rehabilitating roads.”

Zinara chief executive, Mr Nkosinathi Ncube, said their target is to disburse $17 billion to road authorities this year.

“More than $5b has already been disbursed in the first quarter for all road authorities to commence road works.

“Transparency and integrity are the hallmark of the new Zinara that we are building.

‘‘We are cognizant of the legacy issues that affected our brand and reputation in the past few years and most people lost confidence in the authority’s operations. Those are the transgressions of yesteryear and I want to assure all Zimbabweans that we will handle these public funds with probity,” said Mr Ncube.

Rusape Town Council said the $4,2m they received is part of the $42m they will receive from Zinara this year.

They have already utilised all the funds and are in the process of requesting for more.

Town chairman, Councillor Blessmore Pambureni said they had initially planned to tar a 1.1km stretch of the Mabvazuva-Magamba Road, but they ended up constructing storm water drains and access culverts on both sides of the road.

“Our Zinara allocation for this year is $44 million and we have already received $4,2m and utilised it to construct storm

water drains along the Mabvazuva-Magamba Road as well as the Central Business District’s parking bays marking.

“All the funds from Zinara for this year will be used to attend to 17km premix pothole patching and 115km grading and spot gravelling.

“We are not contracting outsiders for the work as we will use our own labour and equipment.

“There are no major challenges on the procurement of materials as the ERRP has its own unique procurement guidelines which are quite flexible,” said Councillor Pambureni.

Makoni Rural District Council chief executive officer, Dr Edward Pise said on their allocation of $44m, they have received $4,4m.

He said the bulk of the money will go towards servicing their grounded road equipment.

“Our total annual allocation from Zinara is $44m and so far we have received $4m. The bulk of the money will go towards attending to our machinery which is in dire need of servicing and repairs.

“Our grader, tipper and front-end loader require major services so that they perform to expected standards.

“This is the ideal period to attend to roads as the ground is still wet, it will be a lot easier to work, so more money must be released now.

“Our roads were damaged during the past rainy season and in their current state, we need around $80m to rehabilitate them.

“In Makoni West, we will open the Madzingidzi-Kanda Road, which is 7km long. This road will reduce the distance between Dewedzo and Rusape and a lot of farmers who intend to sell their produce in town will benefit,” said Dr Pise.

He also hailed individuals and communities who are playing a part in the district’s road rehabilitation programme by donating fuel.

“We are grateful to the communities and individuals that have assisted us by donating fuel as this is making our work easier.

‘‘We have received fuel from Dr John Mangudya (300l), Cde Patrick Chinamasa (300l), Mr Mutwiwa (300l), Mr Shepard Nyika (200l), Zambara Community (400l), Headlands Community (300l) and the Katsenga Community (1000l),” said Dr Pise.

Chipinge Town Council Engineer, Engineer Thokozani Gama said they will use the funds for pothole patching and resealing in the Central Business District.

“We will do pothole patching in the CBD and reseal Joubert Street. We also intend to use $30m of the money to resurface roads in Wards One and Four, while the remainder will be used for routine road works,” he said.

Eng Gama also called for more funds to be released.

“We have an undulating terrain and with the high rainfall received in this area, it means road maintenance is very expensive. Our road network is around 140km and just gravelling our roads require around US$20 000, while tarring is around US$120 000 per kilometre.

“We appreciate the funds we are receiving from Zinara. However, Chipinge and Chimanimani cannot be treated like any other district due to the adverse effects of the cyclones which frequently hit the two districts.

“The bulk of our projects fall under emergency works as the roads are affected every rainy season. There is also need to invest more in the drainage system,” he said.

Mutasa Rural District Council chief executive officer, Mr George Bandure said so far they have received $4,6m.

He said they intend to use the money for grading works, verge clearing works, repairs and maintenance of equipment.

Among the roads earmarked for routine maintenance are Domborutinhira ($505 607), Charity Farm ($343 020), Premier ($1m), Muterere Secondary School Access ($168 177), St Peter’s Mandeya ($168 177), Chief Mutasa ($420 842), Muparutsa Causeway ($475 352) and Chirarwe ($539 000).

A total of $1m will be used for equipment repairs.

“For all our roads, we need $750m because most of them need rehabilitation, routine maintenance and upgrading. To guard against shoddy performance, we have adopted strict, regular and more efficient monitoring supervision to all construction and maintenance work as we have adequate supervision vehicles for the roads.

“Our challenges include price escalation on the market. Some suppliers are demanding forex, while stock availability of procured materials is hampering progress as it takes time for materials to be delivered, thereby affecting the projects’ timeframes,” said Mr Bandure.