THE Central Mechanical Engineering Department (CMED) plans to recapitalise so as to increase its vehicle fleet by 115 units in preparation for the 2018 elections.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
CMED board chairperson, Sheunesu Mupepereki, yesterday told the Dexter Nduna-chaired Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport that the department would need borrow at least $8,3 million from banks.
Mupepereki said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission still owed CMED $768 000 from previous elections, while some government departments owed the parastatal over $24 million.
“We are going to train 15 000 drivers in 2017 and recapitalise our vehicle fleet by 115 units in preparation for the 2018 elections.
“CMED’s main customer is the government, and we are owed $24 million by the government for provision of services, which, if the money is available, will go a long way to liquidate our challenges,” he said.
Mupepereki told MPs that CMED, like most other State institutions, had been affected by the current liquidity crunch.
“We are working on getting partners. With the coming of bond notes, a lot of partners that were keen on working with us shied away. You may be aware that there is Statutory Instrument 12 that allows CMED to bring in duty-free fuel for the government, and we now have that licence, and we got calls from potential partners to provide cash to bring in the fuel. However, the challenge is whether they will be able to bring in the fuel,” he said.
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The CMED boss said the parastatal would also find ways of paying back the $2,7 million it lost in a botched fuel deal.
Other parastatals that appeared before the committee to give their 2017 strategic plans include the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) and the National Handling Services.
CAAZ general manager, David Chawota told the committee that their aim was to establish an aviation academy, which would be affiliated to the University of Zimbabwe, adding improvements to ground-to-air communication systems would require $6 million, of which $3,1 million would be raised through loans.
