Road rehabilitation on course: Govt

17 Jun, 2021 - 19:06 0 Views
Road rehabilitation on course: Govt BCC director of engineering services, Eng Simela Dube explains some of the rehabilitation works taking place to the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, July Moyo (in blue suit), Bulawayo mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni and the Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs, Judith Ncube

The Sunday News

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor

GOVERNMENT has said it is happy with the road rehabilitation works in Bulawayo under the Government’s Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP).

President Mnangagwa recently revealed that the Government has set aside $33,6 billion for the Second Phase of the ERRP across the country.

This was after Government in February declared the country’s road network a state of disaster as most of the roads have become untrafficable following damage by heavy rains that were received across the country and poor maintenance by local authorities.

Speaking after touring some of the projects to assess the progress, Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Cde July Moyo said he was satisfied with the ongoing works saying they were confident that they would reach the set targets.

“We came here to inspect how far they had gone in these major rehabilitation works. As you might know the first and second phase of the rehabilitation works have been rolled into one, where we were looking at the patching and generally this has been largely achieved.

“What we have now moved to is resealing so that when the rains come these patched roads will be resealed, so that next year starting in March we start working on major works, so far we are happy with the progress,” said the Minister.

He reiterated President Mnangagwa’s commitment to ensuring that the country’s road network is rehabilitated as a matter of urgency.

“The damage to our roads both urban and rural has been very severe. Government has taken over the rehabilitation of a number of roads which are essential to the economic and social development of Bulawayo.

“Government has also given money to the Bulawayo City Council to look after other roads as compliment to what government is doing. The President hopes that if we can resuscitate these roads, it will spur economic development,” said Minister Moyo.

Some of the major roads due to be rehabilitated under the facility include Fife Street (Masotsha Ndlovu Avenue to 23rd Avenue, 4,1 kilometres), Luveve Road- arterial (Lobengula Street to Nguboyenja Avenue, 2,1 kilometres), Luveve Road -arterial (Nguboyenja to Siyephambili drive, 4,7 kilometres), Waverly Road (Sixth avenue Avenue Extension to Khami Road, 1,7 kilometres), Matopos Road (23rd Avenue to Leander Avenue, 2,5 kilometres) and Matopos Road (Leander Avenue to City boundary, 2,9 kilometres.

The roads also include; Nketa Drive-major collector (Hyde Road to Emadibheni Road 2,1 kilometres), Nketa Drive-major collector (Hyde Park Road to Khami Road 1,1 kilometres), Coghlan Avenue (George Avenue and Cecil Avenue, 2,8 kilometres), George Avenue (Gwanda Road to Harare Road, 2,4 kilometres), Dundee Drive (Plumtree Road to Matopos, 2,9 kilometres), Cowdray Corridor (Railway line to Cowdray Park service station, 2,9 kilometres, Doncaster Road (Bristol Rd South to 23rd Avenue. 1,09 kilometres) and Josiah Chinamano 14th Avenue  to Halifax Road, 2,9 kilometres.

Council has indicated that about 75 percent of the city’s road network has outlived its lifespan and US$700 million was needed for the project.

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