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Bianca Mlilo, Business Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) needs close to $700 million in the next 10 years to rehabilitate the city’s road network.

The city’s director of engineering services, Simela Dube, reported in the latest council minutes that 70 percent of the total road network was in a poor state and needed to be rehabilitated.

“$691 million is required to bring the network to a good or better condition. This equates to $69 million per year over a period of 10 years,” he said.

“As a result of the economic challenges council could not afford to raise such an amount and had therefore failed to keep pace with the maintenance requirements.”

Acting Town Clerk Sikhangele Zhou said major financing would come from the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) while council would chip in with part of the balance.

However, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo said at the moment there was no money for roads rehabilitation.

“Let’s not talk about things that aren’t there. The money is just not there but that’s what it’ll cost to rehabilitate the roads,” he said.

“We’ve been receiving money from Zinara although this hasn’t been much and in some cases we get as little as $250,000 per quarter.

“That’s why we’re doing small tasks like filling potholes and resurfacing small stretches of road. Council can’t repair those roads on its own.”

Council minutes indicate that previously, council had engaged in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the rehabilitation of roads and sanitary lanes and these projects had been completed successfully.

Public-private partnerships are business relationships between a private-sector company and a government agency for the purpose of completing a project that will serve the public.

The report mentioned that key stakeholders drawn from industry, commerce, property owners and residents had shown willingness to partner council in road rehabilitation and maintenance activities.

They contributed through labour, purchase of materials and payment for surfacing.