The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
THE Gweru City Council has dragged its contractor Emobuild Construction which was given a tender to install traffic lights in the Central Business District to the court of arbitration after 80 percent of them developed faults and the contractor failed to honour its warrant.
The local authority wants Emobuild Construction to incur the costs of damages claimed from council by motorists who were involved in accidents at the robot controlled intersection as a result of the traffic lights malfunction between 2013 and 2019.
In a letter addressed to the local authority by Dzimba, Jaravaza and Associates Legal Practitioners Emobuild Construction said they might not pay the damages claimed by council unless the local authority provides evidence on the quantity and extent of damage caused.
The local authority is seeking arbitration to mediate the matter to ensure that Emobuild Construction incur the costs of damages caused as a result of the traffic lights malfunction.
“We refer to our letter dated May 02 2019. Thank you for the list of five witnesses that is contained in the aforesaid letter.
However, no independent witnesses in respect of a claim of general damages have been furnished. In addition no newspaper articles from newspapers reporting accidents at the road intersections where robots were either malfunctioning were furnished.
The court/Arbitration Tribunal cannot grant any award in the form of general damages when no evidence to support the claim both in terms of factually proving the allegations as well as in terms of proving the quantification of damages claimed.
In the absence of evidence aforementioned the claim for general damages will be completely dismissed. I now wait at your earliest convenience delivery of all outstanding information and documents,” reads part of the letter.
Gweru Mayor, Councillor Josiah Makombe confirmed that Gweru City Council had incurred costs for damages claimed by motorists who were involved in an accident in the CBD as a result of the traffic lights malfunctioning.
