ZINARA, Govt Fund Part Of Needed US$30 Billion To Rebuild Roads & Infrastructure

ZINARA, Govt Fund Part Of Needed US$30 Billion To Rebuild Roads &Infrastructure

The Zimbabwe government led by Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Mr Felix Mhona supported by the Ministry of Finance and Dr George Manyaya’s Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) has implemented 2 phases of a revamp programme called the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP), placing the Harare to Beitbridge highway at the heart of its strenuous efforts to move of its dark past.

ERRP, funded by Zinara and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, has seen huge amounts of the free falling Zimbabwe dollar poured to execute the highway programme.

The African Development Bank estimated that the country requires over US$30 billion to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure including roads.

The estimate is way above Zimbabwe’s US$18 billion gross domestic product (GDP), as estimated by the World Bank.

Zimbabwe was slapped with sanctions by western powers at the turn of the century following an outcry over human rights abuses, electoral theft and corruption that have ruined what was one of the region’s most promising economies.

With debt estimated by the Debt Office at about US$17,5 billion at the end of 2021, lenders have backed off, citing high default risks, exposing the country to potentially tougher times ahead.

Yet inspite of the odds, ZINARA pulled magic by managing to do a lot of fixing the Harare to Beitbridge highway kicking off at Harare’s Mbudzi Round about, where a US$88 million interchange is being constructed by Tefoma, a construction joint venture involving three local constructors.

“The interchange, the first of its kind, is being spearheaded by local contractors. We are using domestic resources. We (have no access to) any lending because of the sanctions that have been imposed on us. We are using what we have, we eat what we kill,” Transport Minister Felix Mhona told TechMag TV.