Talent Chimutambgi-Bope
Herald Reporter
Commuters and motorists have called on the Government to speed up the refurbishment of the Harare-Showground road which has dampened the smooth flow of traffic on the strategic highway.
The highway is critical as it connects Harare and Bindura through Domboshava and is mainly used by farmers to transport their farm produce to Mbare Musika.
The five-kilometer distance under rehabilitation has become a menace to travellers with the rains that pounded the country last week seemingly exacerbating the problem.
The detours being used to avoid the area under construction are very bad forcing traffic to move slowly for almost an hour to cover the distance of five kilometers.
The bridge that was still to be completed on the small tributary sunk and shifted position owing to the incessant rains and the traffic had to give way to each other to promote a smooth passage at the bridge.
The delay in the completion of the renovations would have a major blow to market gardening as agriculture contributes a lion’s share to the development of the country as the nation gravitates towards attaining an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
A section of people in the area underscored the need for the Government to speed up the revamping of the road to promote a smooth flow of traffic.
Commuters said transporters were now charging exorbitant fares to travel to any destination along the highway while motorists justified their fares by citing the bad state of the road.
Chief Chinamhora whose name is Lister Chidziva expressed disquiet over the delayed completion of the renovations insisting that most bus operators had withdrawn from the route leading to the high bus fares by the few that had remained.
Chief Chinamhora said the bad state of the road affected business at the two heritage sites in his area of jurisdiction which are Domboshava Caves and Ngomakurira.
“It is no longer business as usual at Ngomakurira and Domboshava Caves where most people who live in the diaspora used to visit during the holidays. Transport fares have been hiked since most bus operators have withdrawn services due to the bad state of the detour,” said Chief Chinamhora.
He added, “The highway links to the clinic at Makumbe which serves a big catchment area and it is now difficult for ambulances to ferry patients in case of emergency.”
Mr Jonathan Musoni who commutes to Harare said the incomplete refurbishments led to the increase of fares by operators.
“To commute to Harare is now a difficult and expensive process. Operators are now charging as high as USD3 to Harare meaning we need to have USD6 every day to go to work. We implore the Government through relevant offices to speed up the process to promote good flow of traffic,” said Mr Musoni.
A motorist Mrs Virginia Chibaya said they were fixing mechanical problems on their vehicles daily owing to the bad state of the detours they were using.
She urged the contractors to complete the task with speed to save their vehicles.
“Driving on such a bad road is difficult for us as ladies and even fixing a fault on the vehicle is a big task for female drivers. We are taking our cars for repairs on an almost daily basis,” said Mrs Chibaya.
Farmers and vendors also bemoaned the bad state of the road.
Allister Kurai, a local horticulture farmer said they are now finding it difficult to access the Mbare Musika market.
“We hire vehicles to transport our farm produce to Mbare. We end up selling them locally with little profits as the transporters are now refusing to ferry our produce because of the bad roads,” said Mr Kurai.
Mr Kurai said the terrible condition of the road was now damaging motorists’ cars and disrupting the smooth flow of traffic.
“The flow of traffic had become very slow,” he said.
Mr Clemence Mutarase said public transport operators were shunning the route resulting in transport challenges for commuters.
“Public transport operators no longer want to ply the route and this is causing transport problems,” he said.
Mr Mutarase said after the completion of the reconstruction exercise, the road will decongest Domboshava Road as Borrowdale Road (Liberation Legacy Way) has become heavily congested as motorists prefer using the road as it is still in a good state.
