Chronicle Editor
Prosper Ndlovu, Business Editor
TREASURY has pledged timeous disbursement of road infrastructure funds in the 2020 National Budget with a bias towards upgrading dilapidated feeder roads that link rural communities in Matabeleland region and other provinces with urban centres.
Although Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has allocated $4,5 billion towards the transport sector, some stakeholders have said the resources would not be enough to cover all upgrades, especially for roads.
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Richard Moyo, said he was not happy with the slow progress in upgrading the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road and Bulawayo-Tsholotsho Road. The two projects have taken long to complete due to resource constraints and continue to attract widespread criticism from travellers. Apart from funding, Moyo also expressed concern over irregularities regarding the tender procedures for the two projects.
“There has been discord there amid allegations that quarry is being ordered from Harare. We have raised a complaint and I even informed the President (Cde Mnangagwa) about the issue to say there are many companies that produce quarry in this province and Bulawayo,” he said in an interview.
He said it did not make sense to stop work while waiting for quarry from Harare.
“ Since this has been sorted, we hope there will be progress. Our worry is the onset of the rains and we hope work done so far will not be damaged by rains,” said Minister Moyo.
The Bulawayo-Nkayi Road project, which links Bulawayo with Bubi, Nkayi and Gokwe districts, commenced in 1993 and was supposed to be completed by 1999. To date less than 50km of the nearly 155km stretch has been widened and resurfaced. Nkayi-South legislator, Stars Mathe, also raised the issue during a recent debate in Parliament saying that instead of enhancing economic growth, the roads have caused accidents as a result of their poor state.
“The road infrastructure in the country should be separated and given a different budget. The amount allocated to these roads may not be able to pull through all the required roads. Roads are a very important infrastructure. The economy and people’s lives depend on the condition of the roads,” said Cde Mathe.
She called on Finance Minister to allocate more money for roads especially inter-metropolitan roads. “Look at roads like Nkayi to Bulawayo. Some of these roads are 33 years old and I wish the minister would put more money on the road infrastructure so that we can repair and construct new roads,” said Cde Mathe.
In his response Finance Minister Prof Ncube said Treasury was aware of the need to urgently upgrade the country’s roads and has put in place modalities to address the concerns. He said roads such as the West Nicholson-Mberengwa, Kwekwe-Nkayi and Nkayi-Bulawayo were under critical consideration.
“We have noted these and we are going to get the PSIP (Public Sector Investment Programme) in an infrastructure plan to see how we can move things around but all within the budget. We do not want to increase the budget because we think that it is adequate,” he told Parliament.
Minister Ncube said Government was aware that roads were critical for economic growth hence the need to refocus on rural roads.
“I agree with that especially the feeder roads, that is what the inclusive part of road construction when we have a tarred road with enough feeder roads to make sure that the local community is part of that road economy. This is noted and again, I promise that we will disburse this budget on time to the ministry so that they can get on and provide the infrastructure that we need,” he said.
On the Beitbridge-Harare Road upgrade, Prof Ncube said Treasury has now secured the budget through the five percent fuel levy, which has been ring fenced to support the project.
“There is a good project from the six contractors who are on the ground basically widening the road to 12,5 metres across and basically doubling its width before we move on to the dualisation procession in future. So, there is good progress and revenues are well ring fenced and I think that the current budget levels are at the right levels for the completion of this exercise,” he said.
Prof Ncube also said Government was putting its focus on Insiza South roads as well as a bridge connecting Mashonaland East and Manicaland. “These are some of the key projects that I think we ought to prioritise and we will certainly do that,” he said.
Matabeleland North provincial roads engineer, Engineer Stephen Kamutema is on record blaming bureaucracy and centralised procurement system for the delays in releasing funds to buy raw materials.
Online Reporter