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Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
A 5km stretch of the 12km along Solomon Mujuru Drive (formerly Kirkman Road) in Dzivarasekwa which was under construction has been opened to traffic, a move which has been hailed by motorists and transport operators.The road was constructed by a local company, Leengate and it will link motorists to the Harare-Bulawayo Highway once completed, to ease congestion.
Most motorists coming from the Westgate area along Harare Drive have been driving through N. Richards and the construction of this road is set to ease congestion as they will now use it to pass through the Whitehouse area through Dzivarasekwa Extension.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona, Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs and Devolution Charles Tawengwa, Zinara board chairperson Dr George Manyaya, Zinara chief executive officer Mr Nkosinathi Ncube, and other senior Government officials were on the ground on Monday to open the stretch that stretches from Dzivarasekwa Extension, after Dzivarasekwa Barracks.
In an interview, Minister Mhona said, “I am happy, again, standing here to demonstrate the work ethic of the Second Republic, under the wise leadership of His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and a week after the State of the Nation address by His Excellency, where he talked of infrastructure, utility cluster as an anchor, as key in driving the economy going forward.
“I am happy as a representative of this very important ministry, as I always say, it is easier to work in this ministry because the visionary leader is there, already, giving us direction.
“So for us, roads are on the dashboard, we just implement. So I am very grateful to His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa who is always giving us direction, and for the people of Zimbabwe to say, yes, we are attending to roads, and we know that our roads were in a sorry state. And we are talking of this particular road, Solomon Mujuru, known as Kirkman before, which was in a sorry state.”
He said they were continuing to construct the road which was going to decongest Bulawayo Road and also going to lead into Harare Drive.
“Northbound traffic will be using this road again to Chirundu, and vice versa. But the idea behind is to say we need to rehabilitate all our roads countrywide, where we have got close to 90 000 km road network, but we will not work alone. We have got Zinara in our midst who have been championing the release of funds contrary to the Zinara that you used to know where they would use funds for their hairdo and their gym.
“But now with the advent of this robust board under the leadership of Dr Manyaya, we have seen that this disbursement of funds is being executed with speed, and accountability to the citizenry is what we are emphasising.
And you will see, quarterly, we are broadcasting how funds are being distributed to the various road authorities within the country. So I am happy that we will continue,” Minister Mhona said.
Online Reporter