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Mrs Ncube

Municipal Reporter
Local authorities have urged the Zimbabwe National Road Administration to release funds for road maintenance before the onset of the rains to allow them to clear drainage systems and patch potholes.

Zinara recently announced that rural district councils would get $20 million in total while urban councils would share $10 million. The District Development Fund would get $6 million while the Department of Roads would get $12 million. Kwekwe Mayor Matenda Titos Madzoke said local authorities were getting road maintenance funds in dribs and drabs.

“The truth of the matter is that the money is erratically coming in dribs and drabs. In the first and second quarter of this year, we got $110 000, we are waiting for the third and last quarter disbursements.

“The rains are around the corner. If we do not get the money urgently, we will have problems on our roads. We need to patch potholes as well as clear drainage systems,” he said.

He urged Government to give back the role of licensing to local authorities as they are best placed to ensure motorists comply and pay licences to enable local authorities to carry out road maintenance.

Harare City Council acting town clerk Mrs Josephine Ncube said Harare was allocated $1,3 million in the first and second quarter, but only $600 000 was released.

“We only got $600 000 from Zinara. There should be a formula on how these funds are distributed,” she said.

Harare has since appealed for a change of policy to allow it to collect vehicle licence fees or alternatively to ensure there is equitable distribution of vehicle licensing funds to enable funding of road rehabilitation.

Mutare Mayor Tatenda Nhamarare said they received $84 000 from Zinara, which is far short of the city’s expectations.

“The money we got is not enough. We need more than $300 000 to fix our roads, most of which are in bad shape,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kwekwe scooped an award in recognition of the best and most progressive reforms initiated in improving the ease of doing business pursuant to national competitiveness at the Zimbabwe Economic Review and National Competitive Conference 2015 awards held on Thursday.