An administrative boob by Harare City Council in 1995 will
see Roadport (Private) Limited continue to run the city’s busiest interchange
bus terminus, Roadport, for an additional year.
The terminus services mainly cross-border buses and council
was planning a take over this October following the expiry of a
build-operate-and-transfer model with Roadport, but the takeover hit a brick
wall as the company is insisting that it still has an additional year to run on
its contract.
Harare’s capacity to operate the terminus is also arguably
questionable as most of its termini are in a poor state following years of
negligence, despite collecting revenue from the same facilities.
According to business committee minutes, Harare engaged
external lawyers who proffered legal opinion.
“City of Harare and Roadport laboured under a common
mistake because at the time of contracting, the parties agreed that the period
of lease was 25 years yet the lease agreement stated that the lease would
commence on November 1, 1995 and terminate on October 31, 2019, which is a
period of 24 years.
“The mistake did not go to the root of the contract between
the parties and therefore does not vitiate the contract. In other words the
contract remains valid,” read the minutes.
“As a way forward parties can agree through an addendum to
the lease agreement to amend the date of termination to October 31, 2020. If
City of Harare does not wish to renew the lease, it should then consider giving
notice of non-renewal being guided by the provisions of the existing lease
agreement.”
The city fathers then resolved to recognise 2020 as the
year of termination.
“City of Harare can only terminate its relationship with
Roadport (Pvt) Ltd on grounds recognised by law such as in cases where it
wanted to use the property itself.
“That the Town Clerk takes necessary action to prepare for
the eventual takeover of the Roadport bus interchange termini after termination
of the build-operate-and-transfer agreement in 2020 and periodically report to
the committee on progress made in this regard,” the minutes read. Herald
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