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Nqobile Tshili, [email protected]

The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) has allocated nearly ZWG62 million to the City of Bulawayo for its road rehabilitation programme.

However, the local authority has raised concerns over inflated pricing by contractors and their insistence on foreign currency payments, which are affecting the project’s budget and implementation timeline.
Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has identified major roads earmarked for rehabilitation in collaboration with the Department of Roads.

This comes as approximately 70 percent of the city’s roads have outlived their lifespan and require a complete overhaul. Due to limited resources, the council has mainly been conducting routine road maintenance rather than full-scale rehabilitation.
According to the latest council minutes, ZINARA has allocated ZWG61,986,822 for both routine and periodic maintenance works in 2025. The council intends to utilise 70 percent of the funds (ZWG43,390,775.40) for periodic maintenance, including overlay works on Matopos Road. The remaining 30 percent (ZWG18,596,046.60) will be used for routine citywide maintenance, such as pothole patching, crack sealing, and slurry sealing.

Last year, ZINARA disbursed nearly ZWG12 million for road rehabilitation, which was used for hiring an asphalt batching plant, procuring pothole patching materials, overlay works, pavement reconstruction, road marking, and installing traffic signs.

Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe

However, project implementation was stalled as some contractors and suppliers only accepted payments in US dollars. BCC has encountered difficulties in procuring materials and hiring necessary equipment, as many key players in the sector are not registered under the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ). This has resulted in inflated prices, exceeding the city’s budget allocation.

“The presence of unregistered suppliers and contractors who demand foreign currency payments has significantly affected project implementation. Many of these companies also inflate prices, leading to cost overruns,” read the council minutes. “Most companies that participate tend to inflate prices, resulting in costs exceeding the budget.”

The ongoing rainy season has worsened the already poor state of Bulawayo’s road network, increasing the number of potholes. The council noted that despite the introduction of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2), which was extended to 2026, significant progress is yet to be achieved in addressing the city’s road infrastructure crisis.

“The Government declared the country’s roads a state of disaster in 2021 after rains caused significant damage to the road network. This resulted in the launch of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2),” read the minutes.
“This was initially set to end in 2023, but was extended to 2026. A total of 34.1 km of roads were rehabilitated under the ERRP2 out of 1800 km of roads that are in poor condition citywide.”

The council added that pothole repairs cannot be effectively carried out during the rainy season, as the presence of water affects the durability of repair materials. BCC said the potholes need to be drained first, cleaned of debris, and primed before applying asphalt concrete.

“The presence of water hinders the effectiveness of repair materials, making it difficult to achieve a durable fix. The potholes have to be drained first and cleaned of any debris and loose materials before priming, which takes a bit of time. The preferred patching material was asphalt concrete, hot mix,” reads the minutes.

The council said it will be engaging private players to augment council staff in pothole patching throughout the year. BCC said it will prioritise the city centre, public transport routes, major collector roads, roads leading to institutions, and finally local streets in its road rehabilitation programme.

According to the minutes, the council will rehabilitate a section of Wellington Road, Murchison Road, Luveve 5 Roads, Fort Street between 1st Avenue and 6th Avenue, Maduma Drive, Luveve Road, Chinamano Street, and Caxton to Wingrove.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development’s Department of Roads will rehabilitate a section of Matopos Road from 23rd Avenue to the city centre, Khami Road, Lobengula Street to Mpopoma Avenue, Steel Works Road from Lobengula Street to Nketa Drive, Fairbridge Way from Philips Drive to Cecil Road, and Lobengula Street from 1st Avenue to 6th Avenue.

Luveve Road Repairs Construction Picture

In an effort to complement council efforts, Davies Granite, in partnership with Neddick Industries and Asphalt Products, has proposed to adopt the intersection of Khami Road and Nketa Drive as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. The companies intend to fully rehabilitate the intersection and install recognition signs in line with the Council’s Adopt-a-Road Scheme.

Acting director of works, Engineer Methusi Dibidi, stated that engagements with these companies are ongoing to finalise the details of their contribution to the road rehabilitation programme.

“They intend to carry out a complete rehabilitation of the intersection and also erect recognition signs at the islands. This was in order as per the Council’s Adopt-a-Road Scheme,” he said.
-@nqotshili