By Fanuel Chinowaita
MUTARE, 6 May 2026– The City of Mutare is grappling with a US$3.5 million debt to contractors for five major road rehabilitation projects, despite a central government commitment of around US$8 million that remains entirely unfunded, a damning report by City Engineer Maxwell Kerith has revealed.
The disclosure, contained in a roads report presented to councillors during the 1336th Full Council meeting held yesterday, lays bare a deep financing crisis that has left contractors complaining and works progressing at a crawl.
According to Engineer Kerith’s findings, the projects were initiated during the Sanganai Expo and the Zanu PF Congress after a promise of approximately US$8 million was made to the city.
Mutare proceeded to execute the works on five key roads, but no disbursements have followed. The outstanding amounts are: Railway Street (US$873,000), Bridge Road (US$670,000), Glasgow Road (US$783,000), Industrial Road (US$410,000) and New Castle Road (US$752,000).
“We are owing our contractors almost 3.5 million (US dollars) but works are still going on, very slowly, because our contractors are complaining,” Kerith’s report states.
The strained relationship with builders is further compounded by a separate mountain of unpaid bills in local currency for Zinara-funded works. The city is nursing an outstanding payment of over 700 million ZiG on Simon Mazorodze Road and Railway Avenue. On 27 March, Mutare received nearly ZiG2 million from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara), which was immediately used as a part-payment for work already done on Simon Mazorodze Way. A further ZiG10.945 million, which formed the proposed 2026 budget allocation, is still expected.
The 2026 Zinara allocation that has been approved, however, paints an even bleaker picture. Only ZiG4.493 million has been set aside for road rehabilitation – an amount Kerith says is adequate to resurface just 1.1 kilometres of Magamba Road. The entire stretch requiring attention spans 8.7 kilometres. A contractor is already on site, but funding will run out before the job is a fraction complete.
A comprehensive audit of the city’s 507-kilometre road network underscores the scale of neglect. Of the 293 kilometres of tarred roads, only 46 kilometres – a mere 16 percent – are in good condition. A substantial 247 kilometres require rehabilitation or reconstruction, 94 kilometres of gravel roads need regravelling, and a further 120 kilometres of dust roads require construction from scratch.
Only 5.81 kilometres of roads are currently listed under active rehabilitation. They include Simon Mazorodze (0.7 km), Railway Avenue (0.75 km), Railway Street (0.75 km), Bridge Road (0.65 km), Industrial Road (0.45 km), New Castle Road (0.9 km) and Glasgow Road (0.9 km).
Kerith told the council that there was a “gross insufficiency of funding for road maintenance”, estimating the total cost needed to bring the network to an acceptable standard at US$110 million.
The report deepens pressure on central government, which is yet to settle its Sanganai and Zanu Congress-era road commitments, leaving ratepayers and a cash-strapped municipality to shoulder the growing liability. For now, contractors who have already laid asphalt are waiting – and wondering whether their US$3.5 million will ever be paid.