THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development says late disbursement and inadequate allocation of funds to the Transport ministry are slowing down road rehabilitation works.
In a report presented during Parliament’s 2023 national budget consultations, committee chairperson Oscar Gorerino said the ministry was grossly underfunded.
“We have noted these challenges namely, late disbursement and inadequate allocation of funds by Treasury, poor remuneration of workers, hyper-inflationary environment and the impact of sanctions,” Gorerino said.
“The Treasury department should decentralise the consolidated revenue fund and urgently release allocations to contractors and service providers to resume work on national projects.”
Gorerino also urged the government to stabilise the exchange rate to “reduce operating costs for road programmes and other projects”.
“All contracts under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) should also have the same US dollar contract payment arrangements as those working on the Beitbridge-Masvingo-Harare Road to enable the growth of small local contractors,” he said.
Transport minister Felix Mhona said various organs in the ministry were incapacitated due to budgetary constraints.
“My ministry takes note of the observations from Parliament. It needs a whole government approach to capacitate Central Mechanical Equipment Department and District Development Fund road contractors in the ongoing ERRP exercise,” Mhona said.
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