Roads Rehabilitation Stalls As Govt Fails To Pay Contractors
Some construction companies have reportedly abandoned road rehabilitation works along the Beitbridge to Harare and Beitbridge to Bulawayo roads over outstanding payments owed by the Government.
The Southern Eye reported that some of the contractors are owed several billions of dollars in local currency.
An official from one of the companies contracted to upgrade the Harare-Bulawayo-Beitbridge Highway claimed that they were last paid before July 2023. Said the official:
Road making is costly and there are daily expenses like fuel. We were last paid way back before the elections and we have since stopped.
We need fuels, oils, and building materials and without money road building won’t move.
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The Government engaged local contractors to carry out infrastructural projects after encountering challenges due to the country’s high risk and bad payment record.
When contacted for a comment by the Southern Eye, Transport and Infrastructural Development Ministry permanent secretary Joy Makumbe said:
One of my team members will get in touch with you on this.
However, the publication reported that they had not received a response from the ministry at the time of going to print.
In 2021, the Government launched the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Project (ERRP) after President Emmerson Mnangagwa had declared the country’s roads a national disaster.
However, some of the contracted companies have been accused of doing shoddy work.
More: Pindula News
