Zinara seeks global partners 

Source: Zinara seeks global partners – NewsDay Zimbabwe

BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA
THE Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) will soon partner international transport organisations to improve the  country’s road network and revenue collection at tollgates.

This was revealed by Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Felex Mhona while addressing delegates at the Middle East and North East (MEN) transport congress in Dubai yesterday.

The congress was jointly hosted by the International Association of Pubic Transport and the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority.

Presenting his speech titled Public Transport and Transport Infrastructure Developments in Zimbabwe: Opportunities for Co-operation with MENA, Mhona said Zimbabwe was keen to be enlisted as an active member of the International Association of Public Transport.

“Zinara is exploring areas of co-operation towards the construction and refurbishment of tollgates, installation of cutting-edge software technologies for seamless revenue collection and passage through tolling,” Mhona said. “In that vein, Zinara is ready for sustainable co-operation on the same.”

“In Zimbabwe’s public transport and transport infrastructure, especially in the wake of the disruptive pandemic and market developments, new frontiers of transformative public transport developments have arisen in the road transport infrastructural development and mass urban transport systems.”

Owing to the bad state of the country’s roads due to excessive damage, government introduced the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme last year and took over the road maintenance responsibility from local authorities.

Mhona invited willing corporates to invest in areas such as e-tolling and traffic management systems.

“Potential areas of co-operation flourish within the framework of investment in public transport solutions and infrastructure, through concessionary agreements and joint ventures, technological and technical transfers, experience sharing and capacity building. Going forward, we wish Zimbabwe to be enlisted as an active member of the International Association of Public Transport,” he said.