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an official said.
Zinara allocated $3 million for routine and periodic maintenance of the city’s roads.
The funds from Zinara are expected to cover pothole patching, line marking and traffic lights rehabilitation while the city council is expected to provide labour and equipment.
Responding to questions from residents on the poor state of the city’s roads during the council’s 2013 budget consultation meeting at the Small City Hall on Thursday, the city council financial director, Mr Kimpton Ndimande, said the local authority had only received $750 000 from Zinara.
“Zinara only gave us $750 000 instead of the allocated $3 million. This is why there is little progress in most of the wards in the city and it is seriously affecting our road rehabilitation programme,” said Mr Ndimande.
“At the moment, the council does not have funds to rehabilitate roads. There are other important priorities that we have to concentrate on, which include water, sewerage, health and housing.
“These priorities also need funding and we are trying hard to make sure that we provide services to Bulawayo residents,” he said.
Mr Ndimande said the local authority would rehabilitate the roads as soon as it receives adequate funding from Zinara.
The dilapidated state of roads in the city and on the country’s major roads has been blamed for the spate of fatal traffic accidents.
A majority of the country’s roads have reportedly outlived their lifespans by more than 30 years yet the average lifespan of a road is about 20 years.
Zinara is on record saying the country needs about $2 billion to rehabilitate and upgrade all its roads to international standards.
Online Reporter