The Sunday Mail
Engineer Kudzanai Chinyanga
Not all things went according to plan (in our road projects) because while planning was done in 2017, the money was secured in late April-May 2018 and again, we had outstanding projects for 2017.
Construction projects are not planned to be completed within a financial year; at times they straddle two financial years.
Once a project begins, it has to be completed, so we then said since we got the money late, we have to instruct that all the 2017 projects be completed before we start 2018 projects.
That is point number one. Number two, the money became available late because Zinara (Zimbabwe National Road Administration) had to go to the market to borrow the funds.
All road projects were affected equally. The Department of Roads, however, had a head start in that the Ministry of Finance initiated the Road Development Programme (RDP).
RDP is actual road construction that entails upgrading roads from gravel roads to tarred roads, including upgrading some from narrow mats — what we call a narrow mat is a narrow, tarred road — to wide-tar mats in all provinces.
So, in as far as roads are concerned, that programme was unveiled early and of course we had to be involved in the procurement processes.
We then noted that road authorities were struggling in terms of procuring equipment, hiring equipment (and) we had to follow procurement procedures; that is, to advertise, get responses and then we all congregate at the Procurement Regulatory Authority (of Zimbabwe).
So the Minister (of Transport and Infrastructure Development) instructed that we standardise rates for equipment.
We then engaged several stakeholders, including the OPC. In this case, we were using the Minister’s powers as the superior road authority.
Under the Road Act, the Minister has the responsibility of all roads in the country; other road authorities are using delegated authority.
So in this case, this administrative guideline was coming from him as the superior and the responsibility for roads that he carries.
We then negotiated what are deemed business rates, favourable business rates that came out I think in June.
What this means is that if you hire a grader, say, from Mutoko Rural District Council, you just pay the same as Harare City Council. It is no longer about where you are.
And we also have what we call mobilisation cost, where the owner will charge you for moving it onsite before starting work.
So work in road authorities started around July, and this opened up the field to everyone because now we could now hire a grader even from people who were not aware that we were hiring equipment.
Some of our businesspeople bought equipment specifically for use by housing cooperatives and land developers.
We got significant support considering that the country has a shortage of road-making equipment.
Price madness
Then came the October madness. It provided us with distortions on the market and we had stoppages where contractors were not willing to work.
They started coming in, demanding payments in foreign currency, but we said, no, let us all calm down, let’s see where this is taking us, we can’t panic, we can’t be reactive.
As Government, we needed to settle, we needed concrete things to happen than to work in a fluid environment. So we said those who are willing to work, we will continue working with you and pay you what we promised.
We also made provision for a 20 percent increase in rates across the board to try and cushion the contractors.
In fact, 20 percent is what the Ministry can provide legally. Beyond that, Praz will have to authorise.
And around Mid-November, we saw a lot of our contractors, those who had removed all equipment from site, come back.
Those who had mothballed operations also started to work.
Fuel
Then came the diesel challenge; the challenge came when our work was fairly advanced.
We are trying all we can to cushion our own contractors.
We then elicited the support of CMED as a fuel provider, where they could set up fuel supply points to supply our contractors with fuel.
And where there is real demand, real return for money, they have agreed to supply fuel to our contractors who are working on Mutare Road, Norton.
They have also set up a similar facility in Chivhu to take care of those who are doing that 10-kilometre section.
They have set up another fuel supply point along Beatrice.
So where we have a huge number of equipment, they will see the business sense of putting up such a facility, but when we have about three to five pieces, they are not obliged to do so.
But with other smaller road authorities, they cannot do that, so their contractors are struggling, but some big contractors would set up their own facility then find their own means of getting fuel.
We have no option but to continue working with our local contractors because that is what we call sustainable development.
If you don’t include and empower your own contractors, you will end up without an industry, we are very happy with their performance.
We are also happy to notice some improvements in that they are buying new equipment, which means their own businesses are growing.
They are employing full-time engineers and technicians, which means they realised that their businesses can grow.
So we will continue supporting them whenever we can.
Our projection is that, save for the fuel challenges that are national in outlook, we do not see our contractors failing to rise to the occasion.
They are ready and expect more work. Also, they now have confidence in Government’s programmes since there are no longer abrupt stoppages because resources are not there.
We have also adopted a culture of starting a new project only when there are sufficient financial resources to complete it.
Next year’s projects
For the 2019 Road Development Programme, we expect about $800 million and this includes money for the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road, which is almost half that amount.
Of course, we will continue dualising our two projects, namely Harare-Gweru and Harare-Mutare.
Zinara will come in with another $60 million for routine and periodic maintenance.
Overall, it adds up to $860 million — that $60 million covers what we call the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) and this project is ending next year.
We have to complete the programme next year because it was meant to cover a declared emergency running over three years (2017-2019).
The only extension we would ask for is for projects that would not have been completed in 2019 when the resources are readily available.
We will then revert to our normal maintenance programmes.
This year, we had $272 million for road development programmes. For the ERRP, we had $40 million. More than $100 million has been used so far for the road development programme.
It is safe to say Government has been very supportive and committed to the programmes because all that money was released to IDBZ, so it is not like we are talking about money which is not there.
But that resource envelope is sitting at IDBZ right now, so road development programmes are ongoing.
Engineer Kudzanai Chinyanga is the director for road maintenance in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development. He was speaking to The Sunday Mail reporter Tanyaradzwa Kutaura last week.
