Fungayi Munyoro -Chingaira

CHIPINGE – The terrain in Chipinge District is unique and there is need for bigger funding for roads construction and maintenance, Chipinge Town Council engineer, Thokozani Gama has said.

Gama told Chipinge Times in an interview that the situation is exacerbated by the regular cyclones which hit the district thereby causing the need for expeditious release of emergency road funds.

“Chipinge has a very unique hilly terrain and with the high rainfall received in the area it means heavy road maintenance. Our road network is around 140 km and gravelling alone requires US$20 000 while tarring isUS$120 000 per kilometer.
“The emergency allocation should be big so that we invest in good drainage,” he said.

Chipinge Town Council was allocated $49, 2 million by ZINARA for the first quarter of 2022 and so far a total of $4, 9 million has been disbursed.

“We appreciate the funds we received from ZINARA and we are calling for emergency funds to be released on time as outlined in Section 15 of the Roads Act. Chipinge and Chimanimani cannot be treated like any other districts.
“The bulk of our works are of an emergency nature and they are affected every rainy season. There is need for a lot if investment on drainage systems through emergency allocation,” he said.

He added that council is improving on tender adjudication criteria for contractor’s procurement and strong detailed to eliminate chancers.

“Most contractors are based in Harare and we are affected by not being close to Harare,” said Gama.
Gama said that the local authority is embarking on various projects using the ZINARA funds.
“We will use some of the money we received for CBD pothole patching as well as resealing of Joubert Street.
“We also intend to use $30 million for surfacing Ward 1 to ward 4 roads while the remainder will be used for routine road work,” said Gama.