Staff Writer
The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) has distributed $42 million countrywide channeled towards road projects as it resumes its core functions as stated in the Road Act.
A forensic audit by Grant Thornton at ZINARA showed that the parastatal had abandoned its core functions to implement road construction, a preserve of road authorities. The parastatals’ core function is to fix and collect road user fees and disburse them to local authorities for road maintenance and construction.
The new ZINARA board, led by Engineer Michael Madanha, stamped its authority and stopped all non-core functions that ZINARA had given itself, hence the latest disbursements to road authorities.
As a result of the concerted efforts by the board, revenue collection has improved while corporate culture at the parastatal has also changed, it is report.
Since 2011, ZINARA assumed an extra role of implementing road projects, leading to revenue leakages to the tune of US$71 million as revealed by an audit by Grant Thornton. Most of the road projects implemented by ZINARA were not tendered, while others were left incomplete.
Thornton at ZINARA showed that the road fund lost $71 million after it assumed the role of being an implementor 0f road projects.
Sometime in June, the parastatal’s finance director Simon Taranhike was arrested on allegations of criminal abuse of office and attempts to conceal corruption.
It is to be seen if the new board will sternly stand on their words that corruption has no place at Zimbabwe National Road Administration.
In an interview with a local paper, acting ZINARA chief executive Mr Suston Muzenda said the funds had been availed to relevant road authorities.
“We have also resumed disbursements to road authorities beginning end of June 2019. To date, we have disbursed about $42 million to the four road authorities, namely Department of Roads (in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development), District Development Fund and rural and urban councils,” he said.
Mr Muzenda said ZINARA was working on the installation of electronic systems at tollgates to plug revenue leakages while Engineer Madanha said his board will leave no stone unturned in its quest to restore normalcy at ZINARA and ensure a world class road network by 2030 in line with President Mnangagwa’s vision 2030.
“There is visible progress at ZINARA in sorting out the rot at the institution. ZINARA now sticks to its core functions which are to fix user fees, disburse funds to local authorities, monitor and evaluate, capacitate road authorities and to play an advisory role to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development,” he said.
“By sticking to its core mandate, ZINARA eliminated the risk of fraud in the roads construction area where contracts were being paid directly by the institution instead of the road authorities,”.
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