Story by ZBC Reporter
The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) says it can only disburse funds to road authorities for road rehabilitation and maintenance after the recipients have acquitted their previous disbursement.
The clarification by ZINARA follows failure by the City of Harare to acquit their previous disbursement of ZWL86 million in 2020.
In a statement, ZINARA said according to the Roads Act, a road authority can only access a new disbursement from ZINARA after acquitting its previous disbursement.
“According to the dictates of the Roads Act, a road authority can only access a new disbursement from ZINARA after acquitting its previous disbursement,” reads the statement.
The National Road Authority said the City of Harare’s allocation for 2021 was ZWL1,3 billion.
However, the City of Harare only requested ZWL154 million of the total allocation and failed to utilise in excess of ZWL1,1 billion.
“As for the City of Harare, it is important for the nation to know that in 2020, their total allocation was 86 million ZWL which could be translated using the prevailing exchange rate at the time and ZINARA disbursed 100 percent of that amount and the city of Harare failed to acquit their last disbursement.”
It emerged that the Harare City Council is yet to acquit their fourth quarter disbursement of 566 million Zimbabwe dollars for 2022, despite most road authorities having already acquitted their disbursements for last year.
ZINARA noted that if funds were to be disbursed as per their schedule for 2023, Harare residents will still be deprived of service delivery until the local authority follows the dictates of the law.
“It is a fact that our roads need to be rehabilitated and we need to work hand in glove to address this. Whilst some may argue the funds disbursed are not enough to meet all the needs, it will also be noble to be transparent and show the nation how the received funds were utilised.”
