adminOliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development has recommended the introduction of a levy on all mining companies for the rehabilitation of roads within their localities.
Chairperson of the committee, Mr Dexter Nduna, who is also the legislator for Chegutu West told said this week the committee has since established that most mining firms were neglecting repairing road networks within their areas of operation.
“We will within the next eight weeks table the report, which the executive will be informed with and we hope our report would find favour within the executive’s eyes. We have recommended the imposition of a road levy ranging between 10 and 15 percent on all mining house operating in the country,” he said.
Mr Nduna said from their recent countrywide tour of the mining houses his committee was not pleased with the state of the road infrastructure.
“Few cases of reference are Vast Resources, which owns Pickstone-Peerless Mine in Chegutu and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Despite it being premised on resources in Zimbabwe, the company has never offered to plough back to the community in which it operates to repair the Kadoma-Mamina road it has damaged,” he said.
In Mashonaland West too, Mr Nduna said Zimplats through its platinum mining activities, had also damaged the Mhondoro-Mubaira road and was not rehabilitating it.
“That road, because of Zimplats’ mining activities, has been extensively damaged and is now in a state of disrepair. In addition, the $206 million DBSA loan-funded Plumtree-Mutare highway has also been damaged by RioZim before it is even commissioned by the President,” said the committee’s chairperson.
He said the mining houses have also indicated that they could not repair the roads within their localities as there was no legal framework to compel them to do so.
Mr Nduna is on record saying in the past communities have raised concerns over the poor state of road infrastructure around mining towns with the companies accused of neglecting social investment initiatives.
—@okazunga
Online Reporter