Zinara disburses $173m for roads

ZIMBABWE National Road Administration (Zinara) disbursed $173 million to road authorities in 2019 as Government doubled efforts to provide an efficient transport system befitting an upper middle income economy by 2030.

The disbursement followed a directive to the institution’s new board, led by Engineer Michael Madanha, to stop implementing road projects and revert to legislated mandate as enshrined in the Road Act.

Recipients of the funds were local authorities, department of roads in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and the District Development Fund.

Further, the board also restructured Zinara following recommendations made in a Grant Thornton forensic audit report last year.

Zinara board member and public relations committee chairperson Ms Lizwe Bhunu told The Sunday Mail that funding of road projects was at the heart of the new board in line with Vision 2030.

“As the new board, we stamped our authority and stopped Zinara from implementing road projects which is a preserve of road authorities,” said Ms Bhunu.

“By doing so, we eliminated a huge chunk of the challenges at Zinara as most of them were emanating from implementation of these projects.

“After restoring good corporate governance at the institution last year, Zinara managed to disburse at least $173 million to road authorities for road projects. Local authorities that acquit their disbursements on time also receive their next disbursements early.”

Ms Bhunu said it was the desire of the new board to see Zinara funding a world-class road network befitting an upper middle income economy by 2030.