Ilima concept to boost road construction efforts in Bulawayo

ROAD authorities in Bulawayo have started compiling an inventory of skills and equipment as part of efforts to harness local resources aimed at improving the construction of roads under the newly introduced Ilima/Nhimbe road construction programme.

Government last week adopted the popular Ilima/Nhimbe concept, which farmers have for generations used to collaborate in farming activities.

Ilima is known for its efficiency as it brings people to work together and complete a project in record time.

Under the concept, Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution co-ordinate with road authorities in their jurisdiction in road construction projects.

In an interview yesterday, Permanent Secretary for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Mr Paul Nyoni, said unlike in the past when funds were channelled to the Department of Roads and Bulawayo City Council, the road authorities in the metropolitan province will now collaborate in the rehabilitation of roads.

“Government recently launched Nhimbe/Ilima, a collaborative system, which enhances the collaboration that we had under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) 2. Government has said road authorities in place, for instance, Bulawayo which has the Department of Roads and the Bulawayo City Council should sit together to identify a few roads that need to be rehabilitated,” he said.

“The road authorities will have to look at their capacities, equipment, human resources and all other capacities that are needed to build a road then decide among themselves which road they want to focus on over the next three months.”

Mr Nyoni said as soon as provincial road authorities identify their roads, the Government through the Treasury and Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) will then provide finance for the rehabilitation of the roads

He said Bulawayo province is in the process of identifying the roads earmarked for rehabilitation under the new scheme.

“So, in the next few months, you will see all the road authorities in our space collaborating in terms of capacity, but the money will be coming from Zinara and the Ministry of Finance. We have made our preliminary meetings to select the impactful roads that we think are important in the city and province,” said Mr Nyoni.

“We have also concluded identifying what capacities we have. When we talk about capacities we would have identified the last piece of item from grader, technician, architects and everyone and with this capacity.”

Mr Nyoni said an announcement on the roads to be rehabilitated will be made once they have completed the planning stage.

“What happened with ERRP 2 is that we had close to 100 road authorities, which sought the same services across the country at the same time. That stretched the capacity that we have as a country hence this kind of collaboration addresses the issue of having three or four road authorities competing,” he said. —@nqotshili