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Sikhumbuzo Moyo and Mashudu Netsianda, Chronicle Reporters
BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has come under fire for failing to fully utilise more than $625 million allocated by Government under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2) resulting in delays in the implementation of road projects in the city.

The city was last year allocated more than $625 million for the rehabilitation of its estimated road network covering 2 460km. Government released $217 million and the rest of the funds were expected to be disbursed after initial acquittals had been made, but council only used $21 million of that amount.

BCC is on record saying that 70 percent of its road network has outlived its lifespan. The authority requires about US$700 million to fix the roads.

The Government has set aside $33,6 billion for the second phase of the ERRP, after the declaration of the country’s road network as a state of disaster in February last year. Most of the roads had become untrafficable following damage by heavy rains that were received across the country and lack of maintenance from local authorities.

In Bulawayo, 65 major roads were earmarked for rehabilitation under the facility at an estimated cost of $625 million. This resulted in the rehabilitation of some of roads in the city, the major one being Siyephambili that was given a complete overhaul.

In his presentation during a meeting at the Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube’s office at Mhlahlandlela Building yesterday, BCC assistant director for engineering services Mr Methusi Dibidi revealed that council only utilised 10 percent of the disbursed money.

“We were allocated $625 million last year and from that allocation the intention was to do resealing and overlay works and the target length was 10,2km, but what we ended up achieving was 2,7km. For the reseal works at the start of the programme, the target length was 21,1km, but the actual length achieved was 4,4km,” he said.

“Overally, if we compare the target and what was achieved, we only managed to do 22,7 percent of what we intended to do at the start of the programme.”

Mr Dibidi said 17 roads were earmarked for resealing and overlay works.

“In terms of financial update, we were allocated $625 549 822 last year. The amount received was $217 million, which was the expenditure at the end of April. The expenditure in terms of percentage allocated we only spent about 35 percent,” he said.
In his report, Mr Dibidi cited obsolete equipment, delays from suppliers of bituminous material, instability in terms of prices and fluctuations in exchange rates.

“The aggregates prices increased from US$22 to about US$31 per ton and patching fees also increased by almost 42 percent and some suppliers wanted payments upfront. We also have one supplier for asphalt concrete for the entire southern region.,” he said.

Responding to the report, Minister Ncube said the excuses by BCC were unreasonable.

“I am quite disturbed by the presentation made by the council engineer. From the report, there isn’t anything to talk about. Council got 10 percent of the allocated money in April, but nothing was done in terms of acquittals,” she said.

“If you are failing to utilise just 10 percent as Bulawayo yet we are the second largest city, then we have a serious problem. As Minister of State for Bulawayo, I am not happy with this development.”

Minister Ncube implored BCC to develop a culture of moving with speed whenever it receives resources to implement Government projects.

“We are given resources by the Government so that we are able to acquit and claim another allocation because our roads are in bad shape and the council should actually do more than what it is doing,” she said.

The minister urged BCC to emulate other local authorities by purchasing road equipment using devolution funds.

Speaking during a tour of roads yesterday, Permanent Secretary for DDF in the Office of the President and Cabinet Mr Christopher Shumba said they were worried about Bulawayo’s lackadaisical approach in terms of implementing the programme.

“I am a bit worried about Bulawayo in that they don’t seem to show any form of enthusiasm towards utilising the funds available to them. We were shocked to note that they have used less than 35 percent of what they were allocated last year and this is an issue of concern,” he said.

“In some instances, they even said they used just 22 percent, all this is because they are not acquitting and sending their papers so that more funds are released to them.”

Mr Shumba said Zinara never hesitates to release funds once local authorities utilise and properly account for the initial disbursements.

He said Bulawayo also lacks proper procurement procedures when hiring contractors for the road rehabilitation programme.

“Bulawayo doesn’t have reliable contractors, they lack proper procurement procedures and for that reason, we have assigned the chief executive officer of the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) Mr Clever Ruswa to look at their issues and assist them and I am sure he is going to work on that on Monday,” said Mr Shumba.

The purpose of his tour was to get an appreciation on the projects and how the funds are being utilised.

“Our tour is basically to check if road authorities are utilising the funds that have been allocated to them for the benefit of the communities and we have since realised that Bulawayo is not utilising the funds that they have been given, this same could be happening with other local authorities that we are going to visit,” said Mr Shumba.