BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
THE Zimbabwe National Road Adminstration (Zinara) says it will not increase road user fees despite resurgent inflationary pressures.
Responding to questions from Matabeleland North road authorities representatives in Bulawayo last week, Zinara board chairman Michael Madanha said the roads agency was looking at increasing revenues without increasing road user fees.
“Also, I want to emphasise that as Zinara in essence, we will not increase our road user fees because we know hardships that the general public are facing in terms of raising cash,” Madanha said.
“What we will want to do is to enhance the collection, that’s being done now, to seal all leakages and to improve our operations. The secret is we should as Zinara increase our revenue collection but maybe without increasing the road user fees.”
Madanha said they were going to close all leakages within the system so they could collect as much money as possible to fund road rehabilitation activities.
“So that would be our first step. If we can’t increase with what we have now, then that’s when we can now decide to see whether there will be an increase of those fees, but as of now, we will stick to what is there,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Joel Biggie Matiza said going forward government would not tolerate poor workmanship on road projects, adding that there would be strict adherence to quality standards on infrastructural development.
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“Quality management is the issue that we need to do. There is no point of rushing a project and then just after two weeks of it being completed, the infrastructure collapses or starts becoming an eyesore or white elephant,” he said.
“It’s not about just to see things happening, it’s about having projects done properly, which means we need to get ready to employ experts, people who are qualified to be able to do the administration and be able to supervise.”
