BULAWAYO city’s road works have been hampered by a shortage of United States dollars as contractors are demanding to be paid in forex, mayor David Coltart has claimed.
Coltart told Southern Eye in an interview that council is struggling to procure road maintenance materials due to funding constraints.
“Though there is an issue of suppliers demanding payment in US dollars, funding for road works remains a challenge to bring the city’s road network to a fair condition,” he said.
The mayor said funding for road works came from vehicle parking management proceeds, but this was not enough to fix the city’s bad roads.
“For Zinara [Zimbabwe National Road Administration]-funded projects where disbursements are in local currency, council is left with no option, but to approach the second best contractors or even re-do procurement. This results in delays in the utilisation of Zinara funds,” Coltart said
“Council has tried other strategies which include adopting a road policy, but there are no takers, which is attributed to the cost involved.
“Road maintenance is expensive as it costs approximately US$500 000 to construct one kilometre of a single carriageway that is nine metres wide.”
Bulawayo’s road network continues to deteriorate due to ageing and lack of timely maintenance owing to resource constraints.
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A number of Bulawayo roads have remained in bad shape despite the government launching the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Project (ERRP) in 2021.
ERRP was launched after President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the country’s roads a national disaster.
At least 65 major roads across Bulawayo are earmarked for rehabilitation under the ERRP2 at an approximate cost of US$625 million.
BCC is on record saying 70% of its road network has outlived its lifespan, hence council requires about US$700 million to fix the roads.
