Harare City Council has hit back at the Zimbabwe National Roads Authority (Zinara) following allegations the municipality rejected a $250 million road rehabilitation deal.
BY MOSES MATENGA
Council now claims it was Zinara that frustrated a $400 million loan deal between Harare and a South African firm that would have seen more than 5 500km of dilapidated roads refurbished.
Zinara board chairman Albert Mugabe on Tuesday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government that the local authority had refused to hand over its vehicle parking business in return for a loan deal, which would see the city’s potholed roads being resurfaced.
But council’s business committee chairperson Herbert Gomba yesterday refuted Mugabe’s claims saying: “Through Dr (Tendai) Mahachi (suspended town clerk), we wrote to them last year with a proposal saying money from parking, advertising and their commitment to hand over a certain amount of money be ring-fenced to make it a commitment that would allow us to get a $400 million loan from South Africa,” he said.
“Zinara rejected that. They said they can’t commit to give us a constant amount of money so that made us lose a lot. We wanted to use that to repair 5 500km of road in the city. A resolution was made in that regard.”
The council-Zinara war has been going on for some time with councillors last week pleading with new Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere to address the matter for the benefit of residents.
Mugabe had told MPs they had looked for an investor who was ready to inject into the city’s roads department an initial $50 million, but blamed city fathers who did not want them involved.
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The Zinara boss claimed council was also turning a “blind eye” to the informal traders menace that has turned the former Sunshine City into an eyesore.
