Govt continues to make progress in road rehabilitation

Freeman Razemba 

Senior Reporter 

THE rehabilitation of the 6km Chitungwiza Road is now complete and open to traffic while Government has moved on to construct a 790-metre link road and a bridge along Harare Drive in Houghton Park area as progress continues to be made under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2). 

Government has also opened to traffic another 3km stretch along the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway just after the Skyline tollgate while road markings and final clearing works have been done on Masotsha Ndlovu Way, the main road running across southern Harare. 

The road was opened to traffic yesterday.

Plans to relocate the Skyline Tollgate to the 36km peg along the Harare-Masvingo Road, moving it outside the present urban conglomeration, are at an advanced stage.

Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) board chairperson Dr George Manyaya said Zinara had enough money for the move.

The reconstructed 6km stretch of Chitungwiza Road, done by local company Syvern Contracting, runs south from Manyame River Bridge to the intersection of Tilcor Road and Chitungwiza Road in the town’s industrial areas. The rebuilt road links to the US$88 million Mbudzi interchange, High Glen Road to Bulawayo Road and Machipisa.

The 790 metre Harare Drive link road, which is brand new, is also part of the Mbudzi interchange which is set to ease the major traffic jams in the south of the city.

A bridge is currently being constructed and the road stretches from a roundabout along Simon Mazorodze Road and passes between Houghton Park, Waterfalls Community Hall and Parktown to link into Masotsha Ndlovu Way which also stretches from Simon Mazorodze Road to Seke Road. 

President Mnangagwa launched the US$400 million ERRP2, a countrywide initiative meant to improve the country’s road network and catch up on years of neglect by urban authorities. Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona and Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Harare Metropolitan Province Charles Tavengwa yesterday led a delegation on a tour of the rebuilt roads in Harare and Chitungwiza.

In an interview, Minister Mhona said: “Let me first commend the Fourth Estate for taking this time to showcase to the people of Zimbabwe what the Second Republic is doing being championed by His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. 

“If you remember very well, we started in Chitungwiza where we were rehabilitating close to 6km and for those who have been following that stretch of a road was in a very sorry state for some time. 

“But again when we say we have a listening President, when I approached His Excellency he said I want that road rehabilitated with speed and precisely this what we have done.

“He was happy that the project was being championed by a woman who was empowered by the Second Republic to partake in the construction works and she had demonstrated that she can do the work.

“I am also appealing to the people of Zimbabwe, especially to the women and youths, to participate in road rehabilitation and infrastructural development so that we take advantage of the policy that, “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”, the mantra that his Excellency is running with. And from Chitungwiza Road we then moved to Harare-Beitbridge Road where we have opened 3km today, passing through the tollgate and I would also like to deliver the message to the people of Zimbabwe that we are also going to relocate the tollgate. 

“I have mandated Zinara together with the Department of Roads, so that we take advantage of what we have within our ministry, the CMED, so that we start working on a new tollgate at the new site”.

From the Harare-Beitbridge highway, the delegation toured the Mbudzi interchange now under construction before moving to Harare Drive link road in Houghton Park.

“We passed through the Mbudzi interchange where massive infrastructure works are going on and I was also saying it’s also ideal for the people of Zimbabwe to see the massive amount of steel, cement that is going in right now as we speak. As we develop this infrastructure we also have tours to promote; it could be educational trips so that people see and appreciate how we are building our own country.

“And today we are here, the missing link of Harare Drive and a number of people might not be aware that such kind of a road exists and I am happy to say that we are now going to be connecting Simon Mazorodze and Masotsha Ndlovu and this is the missing link. It’s under the scope of the interchange and this is also what we are rehabilitating,” Minister Mhona said. 

He said the contractor had promised that the project will be complete during the first quarter of next year.

“The idea is to decongest the interchange and we are not only going to leave the interchange as it is but we will also attend to the roads within the presence of the interchange. This is what we are also going to be doing. And from the interchange we are now going to be moving to Manyame Bridge again so that we will connect with the road that we have opened”.

Minister Mhona said the continuing major works were not confined to Harare but the ministry team was visiting other provinces.

He said they now have a framework that they are going to be using with Zinara where they are going to facilitate the availability of fuel to Rural District Councils and other road authorities so that they execute with speed the idea of rehabilitating roads.

In an interview, Minister Tavengwa applauded what the Second Republic is doing, saying it will go a long way in serving motorists and the people when travelling.

“This is much appreciated and we thank you (the Transport Ministry) for the works that you are doing not only in Harare but countrywide. And I would also want to thank our President, His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa for ensuring that no one is left behind in terms of road rehabilitation and infrastructural development countrywide,” he said.

Meanwhile, some motorists and residents have applauded the Government for rehabilitating roads in Harare.

A motorist, Mr Munashe Betera, said: “I would want to thank the Government for rehabilitating some of the roads in Harare, especially in Chitungwiza which were in a bad state. As for us motorists including trucks that are driven to different destinations, it’s now a relief for us.”

A resident Mr Christopher Kampiyawo said the good condition of the roads meant that motorists were now going use less fuel when driving and even be spared of buying spare parts which were being damaged as a result of the bad state of some of the roads. 

“The (Chitungwiza) road is now excellent and there are no more potholes. The road is now smooth and you can even use less fuel when driving than before. This is excellent work that has been done by the Second Republic,” he said.

So far more than 50 000km of roads have been rehabilitated while 2 000 structures have been attended to since the start of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) in 2021.