Private sector funding roped in to scale up road reconstruction project

Nqobile Tshili Bulawayo Bureau

The private sector is being roped in by Government to scale up the reconstruction of major roads across the country as reliance on Treasury funding is not enough to meet the completion of several projects due to budgetary constraints.

To kick start progress, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development will soon invite private sector players with adequate finance to adopt certain roads under a Built Operate and Transfer (BOT) model.

The intervention is expected impact positively on the rehabilitation of key roads such as the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway, Bulawayo-Nkayi Road and Tsholotsho Road, among others, which are increasingly becoming untrafficable and need urgent attention.

Of late, driving from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls, which would ordinarily take four to five hours using light motor vehicles now takes between eight to 10 hours due to the bad state of the road.

Bitumen World which had started the maintenance works on the road has since suspended works due to delays in releasing the funds. The reconstruction of Bulawayo-Nkayi Road has also been moving at a snail’s pace due to funding challenges.

Responding to questions over these in the Senate, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister, Cde Felix Mhona, said the adoption of the private sector led model for financing road projects will be transformative.

“I want to assure the august House that the model that we are taking as a ministry now is also to invite private players to resonate with the President’s mantra that says, ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo’,” said Minister Mhona.

“…you’re right regarding Nkayi Road, there is a section we are working on but the progress has not been that tremendous.

“We are saying we need private players to partner Government so that we have relevant sections of some of our roads that we will then work together with the private sector.

“So, this is the exercise that we are doing and one such particular road is Nkayi Road where we are not only going to attend to the 15km that has been earmarked but we will go straight to Nkayi, which is 90km from Bulawayo after having factored in the 15km that I have talked about.”

Before the adoption of the private sector led construction of roads, the ministry was promising to rehabilitate 15km of the road per year and it was not managing to meet the set deadlines.

Minister Mhona said the Government has already roped in a public private partner in the rehabilitation of roads such as the Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane Road.

“This will be the shortest route for those travelling from Harare and other places to Victoria Falls as they will to connect from Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane. So, we now have another investor again working on that stretch on a triple ‘P’ basis.”

Minister Mhona said soon the public will start seeing the Government calling for partners in the construction of major roads.

“Through this initiative under the guidance of President Mnangagwa, you will see the ministry flighting adverts inviting the private sector. We are talking of pension funds and banks so that they start participating in the infrastructure development.”

He also said the Government has extended by a further two-years the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme in its bid to ensure the country’s roads are trafficable.

The situation has become so bad along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road where in some instances motorists drive on the sideways of the road just to evade the potholes.

Commenting, Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Cde Richard Moyo, said the deteriorating road network was even affecting economic operations.

“I recently invited Transport and Infrastructure Development Deputy Minister Joshua Sacco to come to the ground and see the state of Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, which is now untrafficable,” he said.

“It is now taking up to eight hours to just travel a distance, which used to take us four hours. So, from the time being taken on the road, it means we are losing a lot of productive hours travelling.

Government has said while it was working on the periodic maintenance of the road, the long term plan is the complete reconstruction of the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway.