admin
Prosper Ndlovu, Business Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council has spent close to $4 million on road reconstruction and repairs since January 2015 to date with major projects being implemented in the city’s high density suburbs.
The local authority has progressively managed to spruce up its ageing road infrastructure using its own resources and some funding from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara).
In an e-mailed response to Business Chronicle, council said it has so far “spent $2,069,000 on reseals” of which $725,000 is expected from Zinara.
A total of $24,000 has been spent on Airport road overlays while $1,360,689 has been channelled towards road repairs, which covers re-gravelling, reconstruction, drainage repairs and kerbing, among others.
The council says $211,701 has been spent on road painting, hump repairs, and traffic signs with $167,588 having been spent on drainage clearing through the engagement of community groups.
So far council has spent about $3,83 million on roads out of a budgeted $5 million for the exercise.
The bulk of the work is being done by council while Bitumen World has been contracted to do resealing.
The council has successfully completed reconstruction of a 1,1km stretch of Huggins Road in Luveve, 1,2km Wellington Road in Southwold, a stretch of 1,8km along Gwabalanda Drive and 0,5km Matsheni Road in Emakhandeni.
Another 0,5km stretch on Mazwi Road in Njube is in the pipeline.
Reseals have also been successfully done along Jukwa Road (1,2km) linking Lobengula and Magwegwe suburbs, Masiyephambili Drive (9,3km), Birkenhead Road in Sizinda (1,1km), 23rd Avenue (2km) to Hillside suburb, Cecil Avenue (2km), Old Falls Road (1,5km) in Mzilikazi, Ngcebetsha Road (1,5km) and Huggins Road (1,15km) in Luveve.
Re-sealing of a 6km stretch along Intemba Road linking Magwegwe North and Gwabalanda, Mpopoma Drive (2,25km) and Hyde Park Road (2,4km) in Old Magwegwe is ongoing.
Plans are underway to conduct re-sealing on a 1,2km stretch along Luveve Road.
Overlays have been completed on Airport Road and Robert Mugabe Way.
Re-gravelling of access roads has also been completed in Ward 26 (5,2km), Ward 25 (5,5km) and Ward 4 (8,8km). Work is still in progress in Wards 21 and 6 covering a distance of 10,8km combined.
In May this year the local authority purchased and commissioned road rehabilitation equipment worth more than $1 million.
Faced with limited revenue inflows, council has said it needs close to $100 million to rehabilitate its ageing road network in the next five years.
Prior to the ongoing exercise, the city’s roads were littered with potholes that worsened each year, especially during the rainy season.
Council had budgeted about $5 million for the repair of a combined 56km of its road network.
Online Reporter