BULAWAYO mayor David Coltart has ruled out a quick fix to the city’s deteriorating road network saying the local authority has no funds to undertake meaningful road works.
Bulawayo’s roads are riddled with potholes and the situation has deteriorated because of heavy rains.
The local authority is on record saying 70% of its road network has outlived its lifespan and it requires about US$700 million for rehabilitation.
On Wednesday during a council meeting, Coltart said the municipality was in a deep financial crisis.
He said he engaged the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) about the road maintenance challenges in a bid to unlock funding.
“We recently had a meeting with Zinara and it promised to disburse funds to purchase machinery and maintain the main roads within the city,” he added.
“We have been failing to do road maintenance due to a financial crisis as we are unable to purchase the machinery and some materials.”
The city receives funds from government through Zinara, which collects revenue through vehicle licensing and tollgates fees.
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However, there have been complaints from council that the amount allocated is too little and disbursement is made late.
The local authority also complained that the funds allocated are in local currency, yet contractors require payment in foreign currency.
Coltart said the recent heavy rains further damaged the poor road infrastructure.
“We have to work together with our youths in terms of pothole patching so that motorists are able to move, hence reducing occurrence of road accidents due to the sorry state of our roads,” he said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the country’s roads a national disaster before launching an Emergency Road Rehabilitation Project in 2021.
