Zinara sets up funds committee

Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
GOVERNMENT has established a Disbursement Committee responsible for allocating funds mobilised by the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) to enhance transparency and fairness, Transport and Infrastructure Development Deputy Minister Petronella Kagonye has said.

Officially opening the second All Road Authorities Engineers Conference in Beitbridge Town on Wednesday, Dep Minister Kagonye said her ministry formed the committee to allocate Zinara funds after receiving numerous complaints over the manner the funds were being disbursed.

“Taking note of concerns raised by various players, my Ministry has now constituted a Disbursement Committee responsible for allocating funds mobilised by Zinara.

“This is a special sub-committee of the board in which all road authorities are represented. We hope we will witness a more efficient distribution pattern going forth,” she said.

Authorities raised concerns questioning whether the funds were being channelled correctly, prompting the government to intervene. Plans are underway for government to rehabilitate all other national highways in a way similar to the Plumtree-Mutare Project to enhance road network delivery, said the deputy minister.

“My ministry’s main focus is on rehabilitating the existing road network in order to stop further deterioration, completion of projects outstanding from past years, particularly bridges and bridge approaches. This is why we are applying efforts and resources poured into the Plumtree-Mutare project, which at the end will have 820km of highway across the full breadth of the country rehabilitated. The highways will be in a good and safe condition for our motoring public”.

“Our plans are to do the same to all other national highways such as Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu, Harare-Nyamapanda and Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls,” she said. Zimbabwe’s road network covers about 95,000km of which 17,420km are surfaced (tarred) and 78,000km are gravel and earth.

Deputy Minister Kagonye said the road network was generally in poor condition with only 20 percent of the surfaced roads and 14 percent of gravel roads in good condition.

The development, rehabilitation and maintenance of the road network is a responsibility of road authorities which are the Department of Roads in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Urban Councils, District Development Fund and Rural District Councils. The road projects highlighted in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-Economic Transmission include the dualisation of 200km of roads, the rehabilitation of 500km roads, 5,000km roads to be resealed with each province having 500km covered.

There are also plans to construct 200km new roads while 200km narrow roads will be widened. The Deputy Minister revealed that 4,000km of gravel roads are expected to be regraded and regravelled in rural areas while 1,000km of road carriage is to be marked and signalled. Government will also fence 1,000km of roads as a way of reducing highway accidents caused by stray animals, she said.

“Plans are also there to rebuild flood damaged bridges which include some that were damaged by Cyclone Eline in 2000. Progress on the expected ZimAsset outputs could have been better but we are severely constrained by financial resources. I understand that whereas road authorities received $52 million for road maintenance in 2012, only $23 million was disbursed in 2013 and the figure for 2014 is not very encouraging either.

“This is due in part to demands for UNWTO projects and the servicing of the principal loan facility for the Plumtree-Harare-Mutare road,” said Deputy Minister Kagonye.

Speaking at the same event, Zinara acting chief executive officer, Engineer Moses Julius Juma, said under the new arrangement, Zinara is no longer expected to distribute the funds alone.“There is now a disbursement committee in place. So in 2015 and beyond all disbursements to local authorities will not only be done by Zinara but the road authority will work in collaboration with our principals and other key players. The committee is going to decide who gets what.

“I know this has been a thorny issue over the years but I think our principals have come up with a way forward. So I need you to take comfort in that. It is our view that this committee will enhance transparency and fairness,” he said.

Eng Juma said Zinara wanted all the country’s urban roads, highways and rural roads well maintained.

“We stand guided by our Zinara board, our principals in the ministry of what to target in 2015 and beyond but basically our vision is to make sure our roads are trafficable,” he said.

Recently, Zinara disbursed $2 million to Rural District Councils for routine road maintenance and also trained 80 grader operators working together with CMED.

“We expect a lot of output between now and Christmas. Most of these grader operators, I am told, were mere drivers because when it came to actual grading there was a challenge and certain graders were breaking down frequently. However, there is now improvement in terms of actual grading,” he said.

Eng Juma said Zinara was committed to clearing potholes on the roads to have a pothole-free Zimbabwe.Zinara also has a financial commitment to service the loan for the rehabilitation of the 820km Plumtree-Mutare road project for the next 10 years.

“I am pleased to report that the project now stands at about 97 percent complete and we are on course to finish it by end of December,” said Eng Juma.

The Road Authorities Engineers’ Conference, which ended yesterday, ran under the theme “Effective and transparent service delivery for the achievement of ZimAsset.”