The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development says it is utilising Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to expedite the rehabilitation of some dilapidated roads in the Matabeleland region.
This was announced by Deputy Minister Joshua Sacco, who addressed legislators in Parliament during a question-and-answer session on Wednesday.
PPPs refer to arrangements between the public sector and the private sector to deliver a project or a service traditionally provided by the public sector.
Sacco was responding to Emakhandeni-Luveve Constituency MP Discent Bajila, who inquired about the progress of the government in introducing PPPs to rehabilitate the Gwanda-Maphisa-Plumtree Road, Bulawayo-Nkayi Road, Beitbridge-Victoria Falls Road, Bulawayo-Maphisa-Manama Road, and Bulawayo-Tsholotsho Road.
Sacco explained that the government has taken a stance to adopt a model where it will, through PPPs, mobilize resources for infrastructure development.
He noted that PPPs involve a substantial amount of investment by the private partner; hence, the projects offered by the government for this purpose should be bankable and attractive for the private partner to realize a return on investment.
“For the Gwanda-Maphisa-Plumtree Road, work started in 2022, with 5 km of the road upgraded to surfacing. Initially, we had planned to do 10 km, but due to delayed payments and the exchange rate fluctuations, the contract had to be mutually terminated as the contractor cited incapacitation. The remaining 10 km of the road has been included in the program for the extended ERRP2,” he said.
“For the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road, 2 km of surfacing out of the 14 km contracted under ERRP2 were completed in March this year. The contractor is in the process of procuring more bitumen to surface the next 3 km, which is ready. The contract was expected to run for six months; however, due to delayed payments from the Treasury, the contractor is now expected to complete the remaining 9 km by the end of September, subject to certificates being honoured.
“The scope of work involves upgrading from a narrow mat to a wide mat, including two shelverts and two culvert crossings (1200 mm diameter). The remaining 10 km of the road has been included in the program for the extended ERRP2.”
The deputy minister further noted that for the Bulawayo-Maphisa-Manama Road, shoulder gravelling was done for 23 km of the 33 km narrow mat, and pot patching and verge clearance for 114 km were carried out.
He said that in the 2024 work program, 10 km will be tendered out for upgrading the road to surface standard from 45 km to 55 km pegs.
“For the Bulawayo-Tsholotsho Road, 5 km of the narrow mat was upgraded to a surfaced wide mat in 2022. The remaining 40 km of the road has been included in the program for the extended ERRP2,” Sacco said.
