The government requires over ZWL$700 billion to complete its outstanding major road construction and rehabilitation countrywide.
This was said by Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Felix Mhona while addressing journalists on Thursday on the sidelines of an annual strategic planning meeting held in Bulawayo. He said:
The ministry requires over $700 billion to fund the operations of the ministry. However, whenever one is doing a budget there is a resource and what can be afforded just like in any household set up and as a ministry, we got $125 billion as a resource and what can be accommodated.
To be honest, we cannot do everything at once, so we are stuck because our wish list contradicts what is available.
What we have in the pot determines what we get as a ministry, that is why we are calling on innovation and progressive ways of supporting the Treasury.
Mhona said financial challenges coupled with rains have proved a major setback for the road rehabilitation exercise.
He however said significant progress has been made on the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Road and 350km had been completed by the end of October 2022. Said Mhona:
Linking this road is the Beitbridge Border Post, which has been upgraded and modernised under a Public Private Partnership with the Zim Borders Consortium. The aim of the project was to improve border efficiency.
With the completion of the project, the turnaround time at the border has improved to below three hours from an average of 20 hours.
He added that the ministry has so far managed to rehabilitate 13 109km of the roads across the country. | CITE