TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
Road authorities that fail to complete outstanding Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP 2) projects by the end of this year would be forced to source their own funding to finish the projects, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Thedious Chinyanga has warned.
The call comes a0s the government plans to abandon ERRP 2 in December this year and launch a fully-fledged Road Development Programme in 2023.
Chinyanga, who spoke at a stakeholders meeting in Bulawayo said all road authorities should ensure that they use funds meant for road rehabilitation this year.
“Any road authority with unfinished ERRP2 business will have to fund its outstanding ERRP2 obligations from alternative sources. Similarly, all administrative obligations from an oversight perspective will have to be concluded before the turn of the year, “ Chinyanga said.
He said the government has in the past two years seized with the ERRP 2 with ZINARA being the main source of funding for that programme. The ERRP2 was a temporary measure, and as such, it will not subsist in perpetuity, Chinyanga said.
“He said ZINARA will from the beginning of next year revert to funding routine and periodic maintenance under the road maintenance programme which runs parallel with the Road Development Programme.
Engineer Marone Tatenda Pasipamire, the ERRP2 National Coordinator, weighed in saying the government was targeting to rehabilitate regional and primary road networks.
“The road development programme will target to develop all regional and primary (intercity roads) to such a standard of free-ways and highways, upgrade rural roads from gravel to all weather surface standard, improve the country’s surface standard road density and its accessibility by all and sundry, “he said.
Chinyanga also suggested that road authorities should stop relying on government funding as the national budget was overstretched by other national commitments and obligations.
“Confronted by this undeniable reality, we need to adopt a business ‘unusual’ approach and be agile enough, given that some of our roads now require complete reconstruction. We need to show dexterity in our thinking and explore other transformative funding models to refurbish and develop our road network.
“In other countries, they are coming up with various incentives to promote Public Private Partnerships such as Build Operate and Transfer models. This is an area where we need to apply our minds and seriously consider as we seek to come up with robust and sustainable ways of developing and refurbishing our road network, “he said.
Chinyanga also said most road authorities were duped by contractors who are not equipped which compromised the quality of the work delivered.
“In view of this sad situation, it is imperative that ZINARA considers retooling the road authorities with equipment so that they reduce hiring costs which are chewing the greater chunk of their disbursement allocations,” he said.
In 2021, the government declared the country’s roads a state of disaster, allowing it to start mobilising funds for the repair and rehabilitation of the country’s roads which had now become death traps for the travelling public.
