BCC gets state-of-the-art pothole patching machine

Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
THE Minister of Transport, Communication and Infrastructural  Development, Nicholas Goche, yesterday handed over a state-of-the-art pothole patching machine worth thousands of dollars to the Bulawayo City Council and also commissioned the computerised toll plaza in Figtree.
Handing over the machine to the council staff in the presence of hundreds of residents in Makokoba, Minister Goche said recapitalisation of local authorities was part of the Ministry’s 2013 to 2015 strategic plan aimed at alleviating challenges facing councils in road maintenance.

“We have handed over the jet-patching machine to the City of Harare and we are now handing over another machine to the City of Bulawayo. Other cities and towns with surfaced roads will also be receiving similar equipment in phases,” said Minister Goche.

“Another 40 motorised graders are expected by September 2013 and will be distributed so that each rural road authority has its motorised grader.  Each road authority should be equipped with a motorised grader, front end loader, two tippers, a roller and a dumper. This strategy will enable local authorities to execute their mandate of provision of road infrastructure services effectively.”

The machinery would be an addition to the 40 state-of-the-art, three in one motorised graders acquired for rural district councils, the District Development Fund (DDF) and the Department of Roads countrywide, which President Mugabe commissioned recently.

Earlier on, Minister Goche officially commissioned the second computerised toll plaza in Figtree, about 35km along the Bulawayo-Plumtree Road.
During the ceremony Minister Goche said road infrastructure servicing was now managed as a business through the “user pay” principle.
He said the approach has reduced the burden of road maintenance from the Government.

“It cannot be denied that Zimbabwe’s road infrastructure needs urgent attention. The tolling intervention we advanced on our State highways has provided us with a worthy solution to this challenge.

“Investment in road infrastructure is one of the keys to unlock the economic potential of areas that are currently difficult to access,” said Minister Goche. It is important to always maintain our roads, for without timeous maintenance these national assets will deteriorate to the detriment of our economy.”

Minister Goche said road developments the world over were now undertaken and funded through public private partnerships (PPPs).
“Our Government encourages such partnerships hence the birth of Infralink, a joint venture company between Zinara and South African (firm) Group Five,” he said.

“We believe the financing model we are using on this roadworks in other facets of infrastructure. I invite other potential investors to take up such opportunities on other roads, airports and railways sub-sectors.”

Infralink is in charge of the rehabilitation of the highways and construction of computarised state-of- the-art solar powered toll plazas under a $206 million loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).

The  Ntabazinduna toll plaza was the first to be commissioned in April.
Minister Goche said progress on the construction of seven other toll plazas on the Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare highway was going on satisfactorily.

He said the Treetop toll plaza near Gweru was 55 percent complete while the Norton and Rusape toll plazas were both 95 percent complete.
Speaking at the same occasion Zinara chief executive officer Mr Frank Chitukutuku said the computerised toll system has increased efficiency in the collection of toll fees.

“The computerised tollgate system is the best the world over as it enhances effective revenue collection. After commissioning the Ntabazinduna toll plaza our revenue collection has increased from one third to two thirds,” said Mr Chitukutuku.

He said the programme to upgrade the country’s highways has created more than 2 000 jobs for local people and companies who have benefited from sub-contracting.

Zimbabwe has a total road network of 88 133km of which 18 462 are State highways, most of which  are more than 30 years old and are now in poor condition.

In view of this, the Government embarked on a programme of rehabilitating national highways starting with Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare roads.

The Bulawayo-Plumtree section has since been completed while other sections are on schedule.