Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve, [email protected]
THE Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) has disbursed close to US$1 billion towards road rehabilitation and construction over the past four years following policy reforms that significantly boosted funding for infrastructure development.
Speaking at the recently held Connect Africa Symposium in Bulawayo, Zinara chief executive officer Mr Nkosinathi Ncube said revised tollgate tariffs introduced in 2022 unlocked critical resources, allowing Government to accelerate road works across the country.
“One of the most difficult issues that constrained Zimbabwe from developing its road network was the issue of funding, funding from a tariff point of view. For a long time, up to around 2021, 2022, even at the toll gates, we were paying about 10 cents. So that funding was insignificant to even develop a few kilometres in one small city,” Mr Ncube said.
Mr Ncube said meaningful progress began to be recorded after tariffs were adjusted by the Ministries of Finance and Transport.
“Though on the consumer side it comes at a cost, from the economy at large it starts to make sense. We have managed to pay as a Government through Zinara on the roads over the past four years, we are almost exceeding US$1 billion,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s road infrastructure push has been anchored on programmes such as the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, launched in 2021 to restore roads nationwide. The programme has resulted in extensive works, including regravelling, resurfacing and drainage rehabilitation on both urban and rural roads.
Other major projects include upgrades along the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway, the dualisation of the Harare-Mutare Road, and ongoing works on key trade corridors such as the Plumtree-Mutare corridor and the Victoria Falls-Bulawayo Road.
These routes are critical to regional trade, linking Zimbabwe to neighbouring countries and facilitating the efficient movement of goods across the Southern African region.
While welcoming the improved funding environment, Mr Ncube cautioned that financial resources alone would not deliver lasting results without strong accountability and quality workmanship from contractors.
“If you look at the road network and say, ‘That one billion, how do you account for it? Where exactly did it go?’ You will find issues of quality coming into play. A road is done in 2024, but from a policy point of view there is need for both the public sector and the private sector to have issues of accountability.
“So when you use public funds to execute a project, even as a private player, you have to give account as to how you use those funds. If you construct a road or you are doing a major rehabilitation or a maintenance project as a private player, you have to show pride in it and say, ‘I proudly did this road and it will last for so many years.”
Mr Ncube also called for the urgent resuscitation of the country’s rail network, arguing that roads alone cannot cope with increasing freight volumes.
“Two years ago, there were less than 500 trucks that were coming from Beira to Harare. Right now, on a daily basis, you have got more than 1 200 trucks that come from the Mozambique border to Harare. That calls for an efficient rail. So the roads that we have cannot stomach the traffic on its own,” he said.
Mr Ncube said public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the road and rail sectors remain largely untapped in Zimbabwe, urging policymakers to ensure that investment benefits are balanced between the two modes of transport.
“A road is not meant for that traffic alone, it is just one big policy which has to be effected immediately,” he said.
Bunjiwe Mkwananzi