adminThe Bulawayo City Council has in recent weeks been filling potholes and rehabilitating some of its roads but the truth of the matter is that the roads need a complete overhaul as it does not help to repair potholes today, which would in a couple of days, resurface.
The state of the country’s trunk highways is also a sorry sight as most of them have potholes, causing a stir to motorists who have to travel more hours so as to be careful not to run into potholes and damage their vehicles.
A lot has been said about Zimbabwean roads, as most people doubt that the roads will ever be rehabilitated to match the standards of neighbouring countries like Botswana and South Africa.
With the introduction of tollgates in August 2009, it seemed as though the issue of bad roads would be a thing of the past. Motorists who pay toll fees every day thought that funds raised from tollgates would contribute towards the construction and repair of roads.
“We pay the tollgate fee every time we pass a tollgate but to my surprise there is nothing that is being done as most highways have potholes,” said Mrs Portia Ndlovu.
“The surface of the roads is not that bad in most places but if you drive around most residential areas you may damage your car,” she said.
In addition to potholes, there are virtually no road signs anymore. The few still standing on roadsides have been weather beaten. They do not inform the driver on what he/she is approaching as most of them are no longer visible.
The country presently has 22 tollgates whose rudimentary structures reportedly need urgent attention.
At the moment light vehicles are charged $1, the next class of vehicle, which includes kombis $2, buses $3, lorries $4 while haulage truck users fork out $5.
It was hoped that money harnessed from the tolling points would help improve the road network and build new ones but that has not happened as highways actually continue being hazardous to safe road travel.
Police chief spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena acknowledged that the condition of roads sometimes causes accidents but said motorists should be always careful.
“At times these roads are a major cause of accidents as most road surfaces are not good and the road signs in some cases do not exist.
“However, motorists should exercise caution to avoid accidents as some motorists blame road conditions while at times they are caused by human error,” he said.
A few months ago, the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) entered into partnership with a South African company, Group Five, to rehabilitate and upgrade the Plumtree-Mutare highway. The project is funded through a $206,6 million loan made available by the Development Bank of South Africa.
New and better tolling points, renamed toll plazas, would be constructed along the route, the first likely to be working by September.
The Government will soon increase the toll fees in a bid to clear out the money they borrowed from the Development Bank of South Africa.
Zinara spokesman Mr Augustine Moyo said the project was being undertaken by Infralink, a joint venture between Zinara and Group Five.
He also said the Plumtree-Mutare highway was not being turned into a dual lane as they were simply widening the road to allow cars that break down to pull over and not disturb traffic flow.
He said despite the introduction of toll gates, only a fraction was being raised of the $2 billion required to revamp the national road network.
“Zinara is responsible for the administration of roads but cannot raise the money that is needed for the rehabilitation of roads,” he said.
“Our revenue comes from road user charges. These include tollgate fees, vehicle licences, abnormal load fees, and fuel levy.
“Last year, we collected only $80 million from the user fees and the money is a far cry compared to the $2 billion needed,” said Mr Moyo.
The new toll plazas being constructed will cost about $1 million each. Work is expected to start after the Easter holidays.
With the introduction of Zinara, most people thought that it would improve the state of the roads as they saw a good governing body that would see to it that roads are rehabilitated to match international standards.
Some road accidents that have been reported have been attributed to the poor state of the roads.
Many motorists blame accidents on the tall grass that has not been cut in a long time and obstructs their view and in some cases the absence of road signs. Yet others hit potholes, resulting in accidents.
Governor and Resident Minister for Matabeleland North Thokozile Mathuthu recently put into perspective the poor state of roads in her province. She said a four-wheel drive is needed to negotiate some of the country’s roads.
She said the roads are really bad like the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road, which has been under construction for more than 10 years. Governor Mathuthu said when it rains
some of the roads cannot be used.
Zinara chief executive officer Mr Frank Chitukutuku said they are going to construct new tollgates which will have booms that will only open when the driver of a vehicle has stopped and recorded the type of car and amount it should pay.
He also said there would be some sensors that would be able to tell what sort of vehicle has arrived, replacing the person that has been there to decide how much should be paid.
High modulus asphalt (HIMA) that can be used on main routes, high-volume urban roads and at airports is now being used for routine road design and construction in South Africa.
HIMA is a composite material consisting of graded mineral aggregate blended with a hard bituminous binder. It has improved resistance against permanent deformation and due to its high stiffness, provides better protection of underlying road layers. Its high binder content also makes it more durable.
The base layers are constructed using cost effective road material technology with improved performance to cater for the extreme volumes of heavy vehicles. Asphalt is a visco-elastic material. While materials used in road construction determine their durability, it also depends on other factors such as the weather, which means that its stiffness decreases at higher temperatures.
Toll plazas in South Africa are outstanding compared to existing Zimbabwean tollgates as they usually do not accept cash from vehicles as a way to reduce corruption.
Their charging system is very different from Zimbabwe’s system as they charge vehicles according to the plaza one is entering and the road or the city.
The prices range from R7 to R71 for a light motor vehicle, R20 to R177 for a medium heavy vehicle, R24 to R217 for a large heavy vehicle, and R31 to R366 for an extra large vehicle.
When compared to Zimbabwe’s fees, which start from $1 for light vehicles and increases by $1 for bigger vehicle types, South Africa can manage to rehabilitate and manage its roads using tollgate fees unlike Zimbabwe which has little money to work with.
Online Reporter