THE Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) says it has made headway in clearing the US$200 million debt with the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA).
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee to give an update on the progress the administration has made in resolving issues raised in the Grant Thronton forensic audit of 2019, Zinara board chair George Manyaya said they owed DBSA US$59 million.
“Through the recommendation of the government and Parliament, we were owing US$200 million to DBSA and as of this morning (yesterday), we are only left with US$59 million and once we pay off the debt, it then unlocks some of the funding for some infrastructural development,” he said.
Zinara entered into an interest recalculation contract with the Interest Research Bureau of Zimbabwe (IRBZ) on February 10, 2020 focusing on the DBSA loan and other Zinara bank accounts.
On September 10, 2021, Zinara formally introduced IRBZ to DBSA requesting access to its loan book information to calculate interest.
Manyaya also revealed that they had managed to resolve 66 issues raised in the forensic audit.
“Out of the 71 issues that were raised in the forensic audit, we have managed to resolve 66 issues and five are still in progress,” he said.
“The outstanding matters largely constitute matters that are still pending within the courts of law.
“The audit findings covered a myriad of issues covering governance practices, financial controls, disbursement management, human capital issues and procurement management, among others.”
Manyaya said Zinara had also regularised its operations in line with audit recommendations as well as provisions of its mandate as stipulated in the Roads Act.
“We have managed to restructure major supplier contracts as well as the restructuring of the DBSA loan, which bankrolled the upgrade of the Mutare-Plumtree Highway,” he said.
Manyaya told the committee that Zinara is currently driving a robust strategy focused on integrity, capacitation, engagement and automation.
He also said they were in the final stages of the procurement process for an e-tolling system.
Source | NewsDay
https://www.newsday.co.zw/local-news/article/200027797/zinara-on-course-to-clearing-dbsa-debt
