Slothful contractors to lose road tenders Cde Larry Mavhima

Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Bureau

Some road contractors in the Midlands Province will soon lose their tenders after they failed to complete work awarded under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) with new tenders to be restricted to those with proven track record.

A company contracted to rehabilitate the Boterekwa escarpment along the Shurugwi-Zvishavane highway is yet to move on site since last year, the Government has said. 

And in response to the failure by contractors to either resume or finish works, the Government has begun a process of blacklisting contractors that have failed to deliver.

Since last year, the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa has been on a rehabilitation drive to ensure roads are fixed.

However, it has indicated that gone are the days when projects took forever to be completed.

This saw contractors getting strict timelines to complete work and anyone that failed to meet the deadlines is removed.

Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Midlands Larry Mavima recently toured some of the stalled roads that include the Gweru-Lower Gweru Road and the Shurugwi Highway.

The Government will not accept any poor workmanship and was ready to boot out those that have failed to deliver.

Minister Mavima said some Government officials that engaged incompetent contractors should also be shown an exit door.

“What we are witnessing here is unacceptable. 

“We can’t have a situation where our roads remain in a bad state when we have managers mandated to do their job but are sleeping on duty. 

“The contractors engaged have been given the money so what is the excuse? Some of our cities and roads remain the worst across the country and the question is why? I will not allow that under my watch,” fumed Minister Mavima.

Investors will not come in an environment where the road network is bad, he said.

The Second Republic was development- oriented and would not accept saboteurs in offices.

“We need to attract investments and this can only happen with a functional road network. Those who fail to deliver will have to ship out. This is a very serious matter,” he said.

Minister Mavima said the Government will have to cancel such tenders and seek new bids.

Midlands Provincial Roads Engineer Denis Mafurira said all winning tenderers would be fully vetted for road projects before granting tenders and after some duds the authorities would go back to tender for works to resume.

“The fast way to address the problem was to use a restricted tender. We have identified some four contractors who are have proved to be good.

“These are working on the Beitbridge-Harare highway and they have since proved their capacity in road construction. 

“It will be easy for us to pick the one who will win the tender and hopefully by next month, we would have concluded the tender bid and get the contractor to start the works,” he said.

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