Cardnus Chijongwe
The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) intends to parcel out over 40 earth-moving machines worth more than US$10 million to local authorities across the country.

A tender for the purchase of the road construction and maintenance equipment is expected to be presented to the State Procurement Board this week.
Zinara spokesperson Mr Augustine Moyo said the move is aimed at cutting costs incurred by councils when hiring road maintenance machinery.

“We are in the process of purchasing 40 earth-moving machines as a cost-cutting measure. We have realised that councils are losing thousands of dollars through hiring out equipment at exorbitant charges. Authorities such as the Department of Roads, District Development Fund, urban councils and rural district councils, which are our partners in road development, will be the major beneficiaries of the programme. The purchase of this equipment will also go a long way in helping us maintain roads as the machines we have been using have outlived their life span.”

Turning to Zinara’s relationship with local councils, Mr Moyo said the roads authority regards councils as partners. “We are in good books with all councils, including Harare. In the case of Harare, we have a win-win partnership, with the city recently getting scanners from the Ministry of Transport for use in detecting fake or expired licence discs.”
The clampdown on unregistered vehicles last week saw the arrest of more than 317 motorists.