ZINARA to renegotiate Univern deal

Takudzwa Chihambakwe

ZIMBABWE National Road Administration (Zinara) board chairman, Engineer Michael Madanha says he will meet with Univern Enterprises to renegotiate a deal sealed with the technology company for the supply of software and other services.

Madanha was presenting oral evidence to the Public Accounts parliamentary portfolio committee on Monday morning.

The previous Zinara board is accused of flouting procurement procedures when it awarded Univern several contracts without going to tender.

The contracts entered into are Public Private Partnerships, but the actual amount that Univern invested is not known.

“We are going to meet with Univern to renegotiate the terms of the contract,” said Engineer Madanha.

“We have seen that in the contract there are some certain grey areas which need to be clarified and improved.”

He also blamed the management at Zinara for coming up with poor contracts.

With the current arrangements agreed to between Zinara and Univern, some contracts will run as long as 10 years, with the latter getting 21% of every dollar for vehicle licensing. Univern will also pocket a cool 3.4% on every dollar paid for radio licenses and 14% per dollar on transit fees, excluding VAT.

Such deals are benefiting Univern and parliamentarians say this is tantamount to looting of taxpayers’ money

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