The Ministry of Finance has released K136 million to the National Road Fund Agency – NRFA to settle arrears related to road projects and other related activities.
NRFA is however expected to pay k28 million for the ongoing works at the Kazungula bridge project, a multi-million bilateral project on the north-south corridor on the border between Zambia and Botswana.
In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Finance Minister, Margerate Mwanakatwe said once the project is complete, Kazungula bridge will facilitate trade, commerce and investment through improved efficiency of transit traffic and reduction in the time that local and international freight takes to be cleared at the border.
She said part of the funding tranche has been earmarked for the local routine maintenance contractors under the road development agency – RDA, and those under the ministry of local government.
She added that the release of the money is not only a cash flow stimulus for the small-scale contractors but also a demonstration of the government’s commitment to the domestic arrears dismantling strategy.
Mwanakatwe said the ministry has since put in place a system that will ensure that main road contractors, sub-contractors and consultants are also paid in due course. “My ministry wishes to see that the government’s policy of building local contracting capacity by allocation of 20% of major contracts to this category is sustained in order to empower our own citizens. Going forward, my ministry through the NRFA will continue to strengthen its domestic resource mobilisation efforts for the road sector by increasing the road tolling footprint across the country from the current sixteen to twenty-eight by the end of 2019,”
The Finance Minister is however keen to see that strong internal systems and controls are maintained at NRFA in order to remain on track and ensure that targeted road works are duly completed, and that the debt dismantling strategy is not derailed.
