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Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
So far more than 55 roads in Harare have been repaired or reconstructed by the Government under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme after the city council failed to do the required work with other roads now coming up for repair.
In January, Government bought state of the art equipment through the CMED (Private) Limited to rehabilitate roads in urban areas.
They include two road reclaimers, two D8 Bulldozers, four 20 000-litre water bowsers, two 20-tonne recovery trucks, three excavators, four graders, one double drum roller, three Padfoot rollers, three pneumatic rollers, two chip spreaders, one front end loader, four 10-tonne lorries and one tractor horse.
CMED has also implemented a number of road projects throughout the country since the Construction and Civil Works Unit open operations in March 2021.
Some of the major urban road projects rehabilitated by CMED in the last two years are in Harare Boshoff Drive, Kelvin Road South, Ruwa Mushanje, Paisley, Masotsha Ndlovu, Ceres and Kent. In Bulawayo there is Masiyephambili plus Mbizo road in Kwekwe and Magamba Road in Mutare.
Government has also roped in local contractors to assist in rehabilitating the roads.
Some of the major roads that are almost complete in Harare include Chinhanda Road in Glen Norah, which is a bypass from the Mbudzi Interchange. The other one is Lytton Road which links the city with suburbs such as Rugare, Kambuzuma and Mufakose among other surrounding areas. Posting on its twitter handle yesterday the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development confirmed that these roads were almost complete, a move that has been commended my both motorists and residents.
“ERRP2 update. Asphalt overlaying in progress on Chimhanda road. The road is being used as part of the western bypass during the Mbudzi interchange construction. 90 percent of traffic branching off to the west before the interchange use the road as part of detour.”
The Ministry also added, “Surfacing in progress on the rehabilitation of Lytton road, Kambuzuma-Mufakose, Increase in kilometres of good road network infrastructure.”
In an interview yesterday, Glen Norah resident, Mr Raymond Chizunza applauded government for finally moving in to repair Chimhanda Road.
“The road was now in a bad state since it was now busy being used by motorists. Even truck drivers that wanted to connect to High Glen Road would use this road and I would like to thank the Government for ensuring that this road has been rehabilitated,” he said. A motorist, Mr Samuel Foya said Government should also consider rehabilitating Amalinda Road which is also being used by transport operators and motorists to link to Mbudzi Interchange. He said some parts of the road where in a bad state.
On the Lytton Road, residents living in and around the area also thanked the Second Republic for the work it was doing especially on road rehabilitation and infrastructural development
Mrs Faith Nyamuripa of Kambuzuma said: “The Second Republic is continuing to do good works especially on roads that had been neglected by councils. It is my hope that Government will also move in to other roads in other suburbs.”
These developments also comes after plans to upgrade the Mahusekwa-Landas Road are at an advanced stage, with the contractor, Tensor Systems, having so far rehabilitated about 5km of the road, under a sustained road and infrastructure development drive by the Second Republic.
More than 50 000km of roads have so far been rehabilitated and reconstructed countrywide while 2 000 structures have been attended to since the start of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme in 2021.
Zimbabwe has an estimated road network of 84 000km, out of which 93 percent of the network was in fair or poor condition and in need of rehabilitation or periodic maintenance.
Mahusekwa Road reduces the distance travelled by people from Harare to Mahusekwa Growth Point, through Landas Business Centre.
It is critical for economic activities across Marondera District, and the entire Mashonaland East Province.
Presently, the road is in bad shape, and motorists and commuters have been appealing for its upgrade.
So bad is the road such that when motorists are nearing Mahusekwa Growth Point, some of them would leave the road and use detour-like paths that pass through village gardens, to avoid huge potholes on the main road.
When the Government recently announced that the upgrade of the Mahusekwa-Landas Road will be commencing soon, travellers and motorists hailed the decision.
In an interview recently, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said they had accelerated their rehabilitation programme countrywide.
Minister Mhona said the Government was not just talking but it is also walking the talk.
Online Reporter