Chronicle Editor
Walter Mswazie in Masvingo
MASVINGO City Council has appealed for an additional $8 million from the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) meant for road rehabilitation projects amid concerns over inadequate allocations.
Council said it was failing to meet targets due to low allocations and late disbursement of the funds.
In an interview yesterday, Masvingo Mayor Councillor Collen Maboke, said the local authority’s road network was in bad state and needed a lot of money to rehabilitate.
He said the allocation from Zinara was inadequate hence council was appealing for additional funds for the 2020 first quarter.
“We have advertised a tender for roads maintenance work which costs $8 million. The programme of work was drafted and submitted to Zinara,” said Clr Maboke.
“The authority is being engaged for additional funds to cover the gap from the first quarter allocation of $1,5 million,” he said.
He said given the inflationary conditions, council has made adjustments on the scope of the road rehabilitation project.
“The scope of the project has been reduced due to inflation and the limited budget. We are also facing challenges with the contractor who is still reluctant to sign the contract citing low payments.
“The disbursements are also not being done on time that in most cases we get into a new quarter without receiving the preceding allocation and that leaves us unable to meet our targets,” he said.
He said most of council’s road network was affected by the rains and it was difficult to work on the roads when it is raining.
According to a survey done recently, Masvingo City has a total of 257km road network but only 4km was in good shape while 153km is just but average.
This translates to only 1,5 percent of the road network in good state. – @walterbmswazie2
Online Reporter