Parly committee condemns Umfurudzi tollgate

Fungai Lupande

Mash Central Bureau

Umfurudzi Tollgate along Bindura-Mt Darwin Road set up in 2018 as a temporary structure pending the construction of a standard tollgate, is a security risk and is providing a conducive environment for employees to steal from the roads authority.

This came out during a tour of the tollgate by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development, chaired by Shamva North MP Oscar Gorerino yesterday.

Umfurudzi is one of five temporary tollgates that are being operated by Zinara across the country.

The committee is touring all tollgates in the country to assess the quality of infrastructure and also assess the state of some Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) depots.

“We are visiting all the tollgates, observing the infrastructure and how they are operating. We will go to VID Bindura where there is a project funded by ZINARA and only five percent of the project was done,” he said.

“There are about four or five tollgate like the one at Umfurudzi along Bindura-Mt Darwin Road. People are complaining about the kind of infrastructure and set up they have. The department of roads should have come to answer to some of these issues.

“During harsh weather conditions like rain, the tollgate is deserted because it is a makeshift structure. There are no cameras and they cannot account for the money they receive.

“They are operating at a loss. We have recommended them to close the tollgate and build proper infrastructure.”

ZINARA board chairman Engineer Michael Madanha said they were using infrastructure that was put up by the department of roads.

“What I understand is that tollgates were placed on roads earmarked for rehabilitation. When a road is reconstructed the volume of traffic increases and there is a need to recoup all the investment used,” he said.

“One of the functions of ZINARA is to advise the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development and unless we set up good infrastructure here it will be difficult to make reasonable profit. This is a serious matter that the ministry is already considering and they are now doing the designs and soon they will start the construction of these tollgates.”