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Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
THE reconstruction of an 8km stretch of Alpes Road in northern Harare has been done through CMED (Private) Limited and Government will soon move on to repair and reconstruct other roads in residential areas countrywide under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2).
In a move which has been hailed by motorists, Alpes Road, which stretches for about 17km up to Hatcliffe Extension has been rehabilitated after the Government bought equipment to rehabilitate roads in urban areas. The remaining 9km will also be reconstructed.
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.
CMED has also implemented a number of road projects throughout the country since the Construction and Civil Works Unit began operations in March 2021.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona and his newly appointed Deputy Minister Joshua Sacco yesterday toured Alpes Road in Harare.
Motorists who spoke to the Herald hailed the government for ensuring that all the roads which were in a bad state had either been reconstructed or rehabilitated under ERRP2.
A motorist, Mr Arnold Nyamande of Borrowdale West, thanked the government for quickly moving in and ensuring that Alpes Road, which was in a bad state, had been rehabilitated.
“Firstly I would like to thank the Government for ensuring that this road was reconstructed although my main worry is that it took some time for it to be reconstructed. However, we are really thankful as it is now in a good state,” he said.
Mr Nyamande said the Government should now also ensure that there are road markings on the road.
Another motorist Mr Peter Ngara said: “This is something excellent. We didn’t expect that this road would be reconstructed the way it has been done. This is really professional because we use this road every day and we won’t be able to face any challenges since it is now 100 percent perfect.”
Another motorist who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were happy as Harare citizens that the Government was continuing to walk the talk in terms of roads rehabilitation.
“We are happy with the work being done by the Government led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the roads have been reconstructed for easy access to any point and there are no potholes along this road. This will also ensure that businesses will also have easy access to roads when transporting their goods and even to other points such as schools, hospitals and shopping centres,” he said.
In an interview, Minister Mhona assured the nation that the Second Republic was going to finish whatever project they had started before the elections.
“Let me start by thanking His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangangwa, our visionary leader.
“Before the elections we were talking of campaign programmes that we were running with as a ruling party and others thought it was political grandstanding. They didn’t realise that we were talking of a man of action, His Excellency.
“He said the City of Harare has failed and we must embark on ERRP with speed as the Ministry of Transport and I am grateful for the reappointment.
“To me it’s a continuation from where we left and it also augurs well with the projects that we were partaking as a ministry where I am not knew to this field and I have the roads on my fingertips.
“And I am happy particularly with regard to this road, Alpes. Remember we had complaints to say we started the project and it was stalled and people were complaining but we are here today after elections and business is going on. This demonstrates the capacity of the Second Republic. We mean business and we have hit the ground running meaning that whatever we started we are going to complete,” he said. Minister Mhona said he was happy that CMED was running the project and that they were going to progress up to Hatcliffe and Glen Forest which is up to about 20km.
He urged citizens to avoid dumping plastic bottles and garbage in drainage systems on roads that were recently rehabilitated.
“My plea is that elections are over and His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangangwa is saying let’s work and let’s rebuild our country and precisely as a Ministry you have seen that I have got a new deputy and we are running with speed to implement all the projects that we have started and also to start new projects,” Minister Mhona said.
CMED (Pvt) Ltd managing director Mr Davison Mhaka confirmed that they had covered an 8km stretch of Alpes Road and they would now move to complete the remaining 9km.
“We intend to finish this road before the rainy season. So we are going to continue with many other roads throughout the country as we work on our infrastructure under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development,” he said.
Mr Mhaka said the other road that residents were worried about was Masotsha Ndlovu Way in Waterfalls and pledged that in 14 days’ time they would have completed it since it was at an advanced stage.
More than 50 000km of roads have been rehabilitated and reconstructed while 2 000 structures have been attended to since the start of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) in 2021 under a sustained road and infrastructure development drive by the Second Republic.
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.
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