Govt in massive drive to rehabilitate urban roads

17 May, 2015 - 00:05 0 Views
Govt in massive drive to rehabilitate urban roads A huge pothole on Ngwalo Road in Lobengula West, Bulawayo. Most of the roads in urban areas are infested with potholes

The Sunday News

A huge pothole on Ngwalo Road in Lobengula West, Bulawayo. Most of the roads in urban areas are infested with potholes

A huge pothole on Ngwalo Road in Lobengula West, Bulawayo. Most of the roads in urban areas are infested with potholes

Nqobizitha Dhlamini
GOVERNMENT is rehabilitating most urban roads so that it can install tollgates as it moves ahead with its programme to ensure that urban road users start contributing to maintenance of roads.
In Bulawayo many roads are already being resurfaced or being widened.
In an interview the Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Obert Mpofu said most of the urban roads were set to be rehabilitated and widened in the next few months.

“This initiative has been a collaborative effort between the City of Bulawayo and the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration and other private players.
“Companies like Bitumen World have also played a great role in helping us realise this objective,” he said.
Dr Mpofu said in Bulawayo work had started along Gwabalanda Drive.

“The roads will be widened so as to ensure the smooth flow of traffic,” he said.
Dr Mpofu encouraged the private sector to come in and help with road rehabilitation.

“These partnerships should be taking place in almost every city and town in the country. People should learn to make do with the minimum resources that they have to ensure development takes place.”

Dr Mpofu said on completion of the rehabilitation programme, Government would go ahead with its plans to introduce urban tollgates.
“These roads need to be maintained and the motorists ought to ensure that this is done. This will result in a huge reduction in the levies that the residents are made to pay as some of the money goes to road maintenance.

Motorists ought to foot their own bill as it is not fair for residents that do not own cars to be paying road levies. Instead that money could go a long way towards developing other areas that require service delivery,” he said.

The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration has set aside $61 million for this year’s nationwide road rehabilitation and $8 million was given to councils for urban roads.

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