The government has announced plans to purchase graders and tipper trucks for Rural District Councils (RDCs) in a bid to improve the dilapidated state of roads in rural areas.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Felix Mhona, announced this in Parliament while responding to a question posed by MP Laban Munemo regarding the government’s policy for maintaining dirt roads.
In his response, Mhona acknowledged the challenges posed by sanctions since independence, claiming they prevent the country from accessing external funding for road rehabilitation on par with other nations.
“In most countries, government funds alone cannot rehabilitate roads without external funding,” he said. “Even in this House, you, the lawmakers, are responsible for allocating funds to different government departments. When we create the budget, we must ensure the allocations to each ministry align with their projects.”
“Ministries often find themselves with only 10% of their requested budget at the end of the fiscal year. Despite this, we continue operations regardless of these insufficient allocations.”
“We approach the road authorities, we have four roads authorities that I want this House to know about. We have RIDA, which is the former DDF; we have local authorities in urban areas; we have Rural District Councils in the rural areas and the Department of Roads. When we look at our roads, specifically the trunk roads, these are what the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development should look after,” said Mhona.
Mhona announced that the Ministry has secured funding for fuel and equipment this year to facilitate road rehabilitation efforts.
He appealed to Members of Parliament for cooperation.
“Honourable Members, we have devolution funds, but some have equipment and lack fuel. In my district, there are five roads. If we have fuel, we can work with ZINARA. This year, the Ministry has a dedicated fund for fuel and equipment to rehabilitate our roads.”
He outlined the Ministry’s plan for trunk road rehabilitation, emphasising their intention to address soil erosion through collaboration with Members of Parliament in their constituencies.
Acknowledging the poor state of the roads, Mhona appealed for patience, stating that complete repairs cannot be achieved overnight due to weather conditions. He expressed confidence that combined efforts and resource allocation will lead to visible improvements.
Mhona encouraged Members of Parliament to participate in the procurement of modern graders for their local RDCs.
“When you return to your rural areas, if your local authorities lack graders, collaborate with them to purchase new ones. This time, they won’t be snow graders, but state-of-the-art models,” he said.
