Emergency roads rehab boost for Chinhoyi, Karoi

Conrad Mupesa

Mashonaland West Bureau

THE ongoing Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) funded by Government has seen major repairs in Chinhoyi and Karoi with work still continuing.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and the local councils are implementing agents of the programme, which receive sufficient funds and resources from the Government to work on critical and high impact roads.

Chinhoyi Municipality, which received $20 million for the programme, is patching potholes and resurfacing roads affected by incessant rains in the last season.

Chinhoyi spokesperson, Mr Tichaona Mlauzi confirmed receipt of the funds. “We received $20 million from the Government for the ERRP2 to attend to roads that were badly damaged by rains,” he said.

“Currently, our roads engineers and workers are mainly patching potholes and rehabilitating gravel roads. Some of the works include reconstruction and surfacing of some of the roads.”

Karoi council chairperson, Mr Abel Matsika, said a private contractor has been hired to repair the roads in the small town.

“The contractor will be spreading tar in the next two weeks as works to rehabilitate the roads are on course. We are working on over 4km of road network system,” he said.

Some of the roads have been damaged by trucks delivering tobacco bales to tobacco floors in the town as the decentralisation of tobacco marketing following Covid-19 has seen a massive jump in economic activity in the town.

Mr Matsika lauded President Mnangagwa for introducing the programme which he said would aid towards Vision 2030 of an upper middle income economy.

He added that the council’s revenue base was shrinking due to the Covid-19 pandemic as many families have been grounded.

“As a council, we are failing to meet all our obligations including attending to damaged roads due to financial constraints.

“The introduction of the ERRP2 and announcement by the Government that our roads are now in the state of disaster that can be fixed, is a welcome move,” said Mr Matsika.