Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
THE Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) has said some of its capital projects in the country are failing to take off because of problems associated with procurement and delays in approving designs.

The bank is undertaking several capital projects around the country in energy, housing and students’ accommodation, water and sanitation and road maintenance among others.

IDBZ chief executive Mr Zondo Thomas Sakala has expressed optimism that the new political dispensation will address bottlenecks associated with project approvals and implementation for the good of the country.

“There are several projects that the bank is undertaking with the overall objective of promoting infrastructure development in Zimbabwe by enhancing the capacity of key players in the infrastructure value chain.

“We provide working capital and advisory services in the value chain but in the course of the bank’s work, we have faced several challenges mainly related to delays in project preparation,” he said during a recent discussion here.

“These delays are generated from the need to fulfil local authority requirements and in particular, approval of project designs.”

Mr Sakala also accused the Environmental Management Agency (Ema) of blocking some development projects. “The other challenge that we have noticed is associated with EMA and this deserves special attention. We seem as a nation to have some people who work with a collective national madness of focusing on revenue rather than development. Even now the approach is to oppose rather than to facilitate and we call upon concerned stakeholders to see how best such factors can be addressed,” he said.

Mr Sakala said he was hopeful that ongoing initiatives by the Government to improve ease of doing business will address the challenges.

He said IDBZ was implementing projects in various parts of the country and was mobilising resources for Insukamini power project, water and sanitation projects in Hwange and Victoria Falls, Empumalanga Housing project with 2 000 housing units in Hwange, Ingwizi Irrigation in Matabeleland South and off campus students’ accommodation facilities in Bulawayo, Lupane, Gwanda, Chinhoyi, Bindura, Marondera, Masvingo, Kwekwe, Mutare and Zvishavane.

The bank is also mobilising funds towards upgrade of the Harare-Nyamapanda Road, Kwekwe-Silobela-Nkayi-Lupane Road.

@ncubeleon

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