GOVERNMENT has suspended all road projects in Midlands Province pending investigations into a suspected over-pricing racket that is bleeding Treasury.
There are over seven projects in the province which have
been put on hold and these include the US$7 million dualisation of Boterekwa
Escapement Road in Shurugwi and Mberengwa Centre-Mataga Road among other road
rehabilitation projects.
Government’s value-for-money investigation on all payments
to suppliers and contractors to ministries, departments and agencies has
exposed a massive overpricing scam by unscrupulous service providers some of
whom pegged their prices based on speculative market exchange rates as high as
$2 000 to the United States dollar.
The obscene forward pricing of goods and services rendered
to ministries, departments and agencies as well as parastatals and local
authorities has been blamed for fuelling wild parallel market exchange rates
and subsequent price escalation.
With Government being the major buyer, the move prompted
the recent suspension of payments to some supplier contracts, which are now
subject to a value-for-money audit review before the payments are made, as a
corrective measure.
Treasury has said the pricing models adopted by contractors
and suppliers leaned on ridiculous extortionist behaviour and are not anchored
on economic fundamentals.
In September, it emerged that the Parliament of Zimbabwe
was billed US$10 000 per laptop, which is way above general market prices for
high-specification laptops, while a 2kg pack of chicken was claimed to be worth
US$30 against market prices of a maximum of US$6.
To that end, the Ministry of Finance and Economic
Development last month instituted a “value-for-money process” for all payments
to suppliers and contractors to Central Government, departments and agencies.
In August, President Mnangagwa said accounting officers who
fail to detect pricing malpractices will be deemed criminally negligent and
held personally liable in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, while
suppliers who generate invoices based on black market exchange rates will be
banned.
In an interview yesterday, Midlands provincial roads engineer
Denis Mupfurira said that there was no construction project taking place in the
province due to the ongoing investigations.
“The Government has suspended all road projects in the
Midlands as it embarks on value-for-money investigations aimed at fighting the
pricing racket that is bleeding the economy,” he said.
Eng Mupfurira said as part of the value-for-money
investigations, all road projects or tenders are being revalued amid
revelations that nearly all of the tenders in the province were being inflated.
He said there is a tendency of overpricing and use of black
market rates in charging for materials in most of the tenders being awarded to
contractors in the province.
“So, generally, we have the US$7 million Boterekwa Road
dualisation, the Mberengwa Centre-Mataga Road construction among others that
have been suspended pending the value for money investigations. All projects
running will have to be reviewed because there was generally overpricing being
done and this is not good for the economy,” he said.
Eng Mupfurira said work on the projects will resume once
investigations are completed and the issue of overpricing is addressed.
“We are not saying all projects or tenders were being
inflated, but most of them and soon we will able to know which ones will
proceed and which ones will need retendering after the investigations by the
Government,” he said.
Eng Mupfurira said the discrepancies in the tendering
processes and overpricing have affected set targets.
Chief Banga of Shurugwi said the dualisation of Boterekwa
Road is critical in terms of boosting the local economy.
The road is used by commercial trucks to ferry goods from
South Africa up to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The dualisation of the road is also aimed at eliminating
recurrent accidents due to its narrowness. Sadly, we have to wait a bit longer
until the Government rein in these unscrupulous contractors,” said Chief Banga.
Chronicle
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