adminNgoni Dapira Post Correspondent
MANICALAND public transporters and motorists have called for the rehabilitation of the busy Mutare–Masvingo highway, which is now an eyesore particularly the stretch from Gudyanga Business Centre near Chipinge Turn-off to Devure Bridge, a few kilometres after Birchenough Bridge.
The poor state of the highway has been a major concern for the past decade on the busy highway, which is continuously being rundown and heavily patched with deep potholes which is now a serious cause for concern among transporters and the general public.
Tenda Buses proprietor Mr Earnest Mungwari, said the bad state of the Mutare-Masvingo highway was inflating the cost of doing business for transporters due to the increased wear and tear of vehicles due to the potholes.
“We need Government to consider our plight as public transporters and businesspeople when it comes to the bad state of our roads especially on the major highways.
“The potholes have severe wear and tear effects, which add to the costs of vehicle maintenance for us in the public transport sector, not leaving out endangering lives that we carry on the buses.
“In some cases, bus drivers are involved in head-on collisions trying to evade potholes. Something has to be quickly done to improve on our road infrastructure in Manicaland and countrywide in general, particularly on the major highways,” said Mr Mungwari.
Another leading transporter and Dangamvura Chikanga legislator Cde Isau Mupfumi said there was need for Government to push for the enactment of the Joint Ventures Bill expected to ease Build Operate and Transfer ventures in the country. “The poor state of our roads countrywide has been a topical issue for the past decades, but given our catch-22 situation of limited fiscal space, little is being done to speed up the repair of all major highways.
“This is why I feel there is need to speed up the enactment of the Joint Ventures Bill, which is expected to pave way for Build Operate and Transfer deals in road infrastructure development in the country,” said Cde Mupfumi.
Several public transport operators also bemoaned the increased wear and tear costs from the heavily potholed roads.
A motorist who uses the Mutare-Masvingo highway frequently, Mr Passmore Penyai, said his family was living in constant fear each time he drives from Mutare to Chipinge.
“I am a good driver, but because of the poor state of the road especially near Gudyanga Business Centre near Chipinge Turn-off, it is always a nightmare driving at that stretch.
“My family in Chipinge always prays for journey mercies and worries each time I travel to and from work during weekends because of the poor state of that road,” said Mr Penyai.
Ms Tendai Saurombe said the poor state of the Mutare-Masvingo highway makes her feel unease each time she boards a bus on her business trips to South Africa. “I do not sleep on my trips to South Africa along the Mutare–Masvingo highway. I only relax after Masvingo. There is an urgent need for this road to be fixed,” she said.
In October last year, Transport and Infrastructure Development Permanent secretary, Mr Munesushe Munodawafa, said Birchenough Bridge would soon be rehabilitated.
He also announced Government’s transport master plan. He said the roads would provide access to inaccessible areas and promote investment in agriculture, tourism and mining. The roads to be rehabilitated and dualised include the Harare-Chirundu, Harare-Nyamapanda, Bulawayo-Victoria Falls and Bulawayo-Beitbridge highways.
Also to be rehabilitated are Bulawayo-Nkayi, Bulawayo-Tsholotsho, Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane and Buchwa-Rutenga-Sango roads.
The Mberengwa-West Nickleson, Karoi-Binga-Dete, Golden Valley-Sanyati-Kuwirirana-Nembudziya, Harare-Bindura and the Murambinda-Birchenough Bridge roads would be widened.
In August last year, Government also announced that 10 new tollgates would be erected on the country’s major highways as it moves in to boost funds for road infrastructure maintenance.
The tollgates will be erected on the Mutare-Masvingo (Devure), Harare-Beitbridge, Harare-Chirundu (Karoi), Harare-Bindura-Mt Darwin, Chivhu–Nyazura (Magamba), and Masvingo-Beitbridge (Mwenezi Growth Point) roads.
Other highways are Bulawayo-Beitbridge (Collen Bawn), Mutare-Masvingo (Lothian), Ngundu-Tanganda (Triangle) and Victoria Falls-Kazungula (Kazungula).
However, lack of transparency in the system of tollgates collections has in the past angered motorists as no tangible road maintenance has been seen countrywide.
Online Reporter