adminpay a 50 percent deposit for road equipment while the association would inject a certain percentage to cover the remaining balance.
“After realising that Government was failing to disburse the US$50 million for the RDCs to buy road construction equipment, we entered into an agreement with various firms which has seen many RDCs benefiting,” he said.
The new facility, he said, would complement the Government’s Road Authorities Recapitalisation Programme and address some of the challenges facing rural councils when it comes to road construction and maintenance.
Previous partnerships between the association and the private sector in the acquisition of road construction equipment had enabled 10 rural councils to acquire graders in the past few years.
The RDCs also entered into an agreement with Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) for the procurement of 20 graders for distribution to rural councils every year instead of being given cash for road maintenance programmes.
Mr Precious Murove, a Zinara official, said the move was aimed at strengthening the capacity of local authorities to maintain the country’s roads.
“Instead of disbursing funds to RDCs, our major focus now is on disbursing equipment. The annual disbursements alone to councils are not enough and whatever revenue we disburse to the councils is not translating into anything significant and meaningful on the ground,” he said.
The Government has made the development of road infrastructure one of its major priorities against a decade-long road maintenance backlog that led to the deterioration of the national road network.
President Mugabe recently commissioned 40 motorised graders worth millions of dollars that Zinara bought from China under the Road Authorities Recapitalisation Programme.
The 40 graders were part of 80 that were procured at a cost of US$16 million. The remaining batch is expected to be delivered in September.
Online Reporter