Local Govt seeks more funds for PSIP projects

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau 

The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works has engaged authorities at treasury to increase funding for infrastructure development projects which fall under the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), an official said yesterday.

In an interview during a tour of civil works of projects being implemented under the Beitbridge Redevelopment Programme (BRP), the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Mr Zvinechimwe Churu said an acute shortage of funds and material resources had stalled many major projects countrywide.

He said most of the PSIP projects had been progressing at a snail’s pace and the situation was expected to ease in the next 24 months.

Some of the projects under the BRP include road construction, upgrading water supply and sewer infrastructure, housing development, a new hospital, primary school, secondary school, civic centre, Government composite office block, modern truck inn, shopping complex, a five-star hotel, an aerodrome and the upgrading of the border post to meet world class standards.

Two thirds of these projects are nearing completion while others have been completed and some are at various stages of construction.

“I am on a mission to discuss with our staff on the thrust of Government in terms of service delivery,” said Mr Churu.

“The national projects were stalled for a very long time. Most projects especially in the construction sector were stalled due to lack of funding between 2005 and 2006. I am happy that we are making progress in terms of implementing the Beitbridge Redevelopment Project,” he said. 

He said in 2017 Government resolved to resume work on most of the PSIP projects.

Mr Churu said Government’s thrust now was to accelerate infrastructure development projects as the country moves towards achieving the objectives of Vision 2030. 

“We therefore continue to engage Treasury to increase PSIP funding so that we may achieve our set target. We are very confident that in the next 24 months infrastructure development projects among them, housing, roads and dams among others, will be fully funded under the PSIP initiative,” he said.

Mr Churu said a legal frame work to roll out devolution was being developed through the Attorney General’s Office.

He said local authorities were one of the major actors in the implementation of the concept (devolution) and hence a total of close to $3 billion had been allocated to councils in the 2020 budget.

“Though, we are in an inflationary environment, that money is a lot to capacitate most local authorities to implement capital projects in line with Government’s thrust to improve service delivery,” said Mr Churu.

He said the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development had also approved a structure to have 10 provincial statisticians working with provincial councils to boost provincial economies and feed into the national economic development thrust.

“The move was one of the major enabler to translate the talk about devolution into real action on the ground,” said Mr Churu.