Source: Zinara disburses US$1bn for roadworks – herald
Rutendo Nyeve
Bulawayo Bureau
THE Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) has disbursed over US$1 billion for road rehabilitation and construction over the past four years, following tariff reviews that significantly boosted funding availability, chief executive officer Mr Nkosinathi Ncube has revealed.
Addressing delegates at the recently held Connect Africa Symposium in Bulawayo, Mr Ncube said the funding boost, enabled by Government policy adjustments on toll fees, transformed the country’s roads sector, with President Mnangagwa’s administration delivering tangible infrastructure upgrades across all 10 provinces.
“One of the most difficult issues that constrained Zimbabwe from developing its road network was the issue of funding, funding from a tariff point of view,” he said.
“For a long time, up to around 2021, 2022, even at the toll gates we were paying about 10 cents. So that funding was insignificant to even develop a few kilometres in one small city.”
Mr Ncube said in 2022, when the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transport adjusted tariffs, progress became visible.
“Though on the consumer side it comes at a cost, from the economy at large it starts to make sense,” he said.
“We have managed to pay as a Government through ZINARA money exceeding US$1 billion for the rehabilitation of the country’s roads over the past four years.”
Mr Ncube said the Second Republic, under President Mnangagwa, rolled out several programmes to address the country’s road network, which had suffered decades of underfunding.
Key among these is the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP), launched in 2021, which has seen extensive regravelling, resurfacing and drainage works on both rural and urban roads.
Other initiatives include the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway project, dualisation of the Harare-Mutare road and routine maintenance under the Road Development Fund.
The Government has also prioritised the Plumtree-Mutare corridor and the Victoria Falls-Bulawayo highway as critical trade routes.
While lauding the funding breakthrough, Mr Ncube warned that resources alone were insufficient without contractor accountability and quality workmanship.
“If you look at the road network and say, ‘That one billion, how do you account for it? Where exactly did it go?’ You will find issues of quality coming into play,” he said.
“A road is done in 2024, but from a policy point of view there is need for both the public sector and the private sector to have issues of accountability.
“So, when you use public funds to execute a project, even as a private player, you have to give account as to how you use those funds. If you construct a road or you are doing a major rehabilitation or a maintenance project as a private player, you have to show pride in it and say, ‘I proudly did this road and it will last for so many years,” he said.
The ZINARA chief called for the urgent resuscitation of the country’s rail network, arguing that roads alone cannot handle surging freight volumes.
“Two years ago, there were less than 500 trucks that were coming from Beira to Harare,” Mr Ncube said.
“Right now, on a daily basis, you have got more than 1 200 trucks that come from the Mozambique border to Harare.
“That calls for an efficient rail. So, the roads that we have cannot stomach the traffic on its own.”
Mr Ncube added that public-private partnerships in the road and rail sector remained largely unexplored in Zimbabwe, urging policymakers to ensure road and rail share the spoils.
“A road is not meant for that traffic alone, it is just one big policy which has to be effected immediately,” he said.
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