Govt in drive to fulfil ED poll promises President Mnangagwa

Walter Nyamukondiwa Mashonaland West Bureau
GOVERNMENT is striving to fulfil President Mnangagwa’s election campaign promises ahead of the July 30, 2018 harmonised elections, which has led to an unprecedented surge of activity on Zimbabwe’s road network, a Cabinet minister has said.

Speaking during his tour of Mashonaland West last week, Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza said the surge in road projects had stretched the country’s pool of equipment.

He said efforts should see the country’s roads being upgraded into super infrastructure that would play a strategic role in facilitating regional trade. This would be anchored on a well-managed Roads Fund as shown by recent moves to appoint a new Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) board with emphasis on prudent management of resources. “There is a surge of activities now in terms of road construction that has never been experienced in the history of this country,” he said.

“In just six months, there has been demand that all the equipment in the country cannot satisfy. “It’s unprecedented. We are in the middle of heavy site work which we should be proud of. People are now saying why not start from there and not here because there is work going on.” Minister Matiza attributed the increase in activity to a shift in attitude brought about by the New Dispensation and its people-centred policies. “The external forces and environment has not changed,” he said. “If you look at it, analyse it using a Pastel of the external environment you will see that it has not changed from the previous dispensation.

“What is making this whole rejuvenation happen? It is the change in mindset, change of policies that are people oriented. Our programmes, our roads are people oriented.

“We gave promises and of all the roads that the President spoke about in the Zanu-PF manifesto there is activity on the roads.”

Transitional challenges such as fluctuating and unavailability of foreign currency and fuel shortages had not dampened Government’s resolve to upgrade the country’s roads.

Turning to Zinara, Minister Matiza said moves were being made to plug all loopholes that exposed the fund to abuse.

“Zinara is a fund that is vital for the development of our infrastructure and it should be used for that purpose,” he said. “It has had its teething problems but by appointing a new board I am satisfied that from now onwards we will have a viable and one of the best road funds in the region. We are in the process of plugging all the leakages in the fund.”

As a result, said Minister Matiza, Zimbabwe was expecting an improvement in revenue collection of up to 50 percent through plugging of leakages which should have an impact on the pace of infrastructure development.

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