Zimbabwe’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Felix Mhona, has said delays in rehabilitating the country’s road network were due to budget limitations.
Mhona assured Parliament that all stalled road projects have now been resumed nationwide. He highlighted the significance of good roads for economic growth, noting that a well-developed road system leads to a stronger economy. He affirmed the government’s commitment to utilising domestic funds to enhance the country’s infrastructure. He said:
We are against sanctions and we are using our resources, contrary to other jurisdictions where roads are rehabilitated using the funds from World Bank and IMF.
In response to Minister Mhona’s statement, Collins Bajila, the Emakhandeni-Luveve legislator, raised concerns about the government’s plan to rehabilitate roads under local authorities. Mhona explained that although the government is working on these roads, once the rehabilitation is complete, they will be handed back to the respective councils.
The government accuses the councils of neglecting the road networks within cities. Referring to the Road Act, subsection 5 (4), the government states that if a local authority fails to fulfil its responsibilities, the Ministry of Transport will step in and take over the task of rehabilitating the road. Mhona said:
The road will eventually be submitted back to the local authority. Indeed, we rehabilitate such roads and hand them over for maintenance to the municipal authorities.
That is why you see most urban roads being refurbished. When we take over, it means that someone has failed to do their job.
We appreciate the fact that the roads that were alluded to by the Hon. Members are going to be rehabilitated and we will take them back to the municipal authorities.
The government has periodically halted payments to its contractors in an attempt to stabilise the depreciating Zimbabwe dollar and combat hyperinflation. However, this decision has caused delays in project completion. Treasury argues that contractors have been submitting invoices using parallel market rates, which has led to instability in the foreign exchange market and inflated prices for goods and services.