Mthuli Ncube taken to task over cost of Trabablas Interchange

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncune was yesterday taken to task over the cost of the Trabablas Interchange which was built along the Harare Masvingo Road to ease congestion into the capital city.

This was after legislators asked why the cost exceeded the budget of $88 million by $26 million.

Ncube said these were just cost overruns.

“Well, cost overruns are never planned up front. They occur during the implementation of a project. That is when you discover that you have got cost overruns,” he said.

The legislators did not buy the argument saying things like relocation should have been factored into the budget.

Here is the full debate:

INFORMATION ON THE TOTAL COST OF THE TRABABLAS INTERCHANGE

HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to brief the House on the total cost of the Trabablas Interchange Project and to clarify whether the funding source was a loan from the private sector or the International Monetary Funds (IMF’s) Special Drawing Rights facility.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Madam Speaker, the Minister is around and I think he is taking a health break. I will ask that the question be deferred and then we will refer back to it so that he can attend to the questions. I am sure it is his desire.

The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment having returned from the health break.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Hon. Bajila has asked a very important question. The cost of Trabablas Interchange was driven by our initial loan arrangement of the order of USD88 million, which was provided by the Consortium of Contractors. In terms of what we used from the Special Drawing Rights, we were required to pay a deposit of USD26 million. So, we used USD26 million from the SDRs to pay that deposit and then the rest was structured as a loan from that USD88 million arrangement.

So, we blended both the SDRs and the loans from the contractors. I think it is fair to say that the product that you see at Trabablas is a world-class product. It is money well spent. It took time but here we are with a world-class piece of infrastructure. I think it would be advisable for this House to support the Government to replicate this quality infrastructure in other parts of Harare where it is needed but also in other cities across the country. I thank you.

HON. BAJILA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I am not sure if I heard the Minister right, that the total cost was USD88 million and then there was USD26 million. Is this USD26 million part of the USD88 million or it is USD88 million plus USD26 million, getting us to the total? Those figures are not clear whether they are part or additional.

HON. PROF. M. NCUBE: The USD26 million is in addition, but it was a requirement for accessing the USD88 million that we pay that deposit to access that facility. We think that was a very good arrangement indeed because we have been able to complete the piece of infrastructure. I thank you.

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