All 16 of the city’s traffic lights have not been working
for the past eight years.
The local authority could not repair them due to a legal
wrangle with a contractor, Emobuild Construction, which was engaged in 2013 and
paid in full to install the traffic lights in the city centre.
The traffic lights, however, malfunctioned soon after
installation.
The GCC dragged Emobuild into arbitration for failure to
honour its warranty. The City Council is seeking compensation for claims it
paid to motorists who were involved in accidents at robot-controlled
intersections.
In 2018, the local
authority revealed that it had awarded Drewland Mining Company a tender to replace the
electricity-powered traffic lights with solar-powered ones, but the deal
collapsed.
Speaking during a full council meeting at Town House
recently, Environment Committee chairperson Councillor Trust Chineni (Ward 15)
said his committee had tabled plans to install traffic lights next to the malfunctioning
ones.
“As a council, on the issue of traffic lights, we said we
were going to install new ones and leave Zhang (Emobuild owner)’s (lights) as
they are. As the environment committee, we have proposed to install duplicate
traffic lights next to the malfunctioning ones to reduce the number of traffic
accidents taking place at the intersections that are not controlled,” he said.
Cllr Chineni said the committee had apprised management on
the proposal for consideration before a resolution is adopted by the full
council.
“We have apprised management on this issue and they said
they would look into it and make a decision. We have to resume the traffic
lights project since it is long overdue,” he said.
Acting town clerk Mr Livingston Churu confirmed that
management was seized with the matter.
“The issue of traffic lights is work in progress and very
soon, we will see its commencement,” he said.
In 2019, the council approached the Government to intervene
in the matter, but the latter could not act since the issue is pending at the
courts.
Some of the intersections with dysfunctional traffic lights
in Gweru
Over the years, the Midlands capital has been witnessing
traffic jams as a result of traffic lights that are not working.
The council’s plan to install traffic lights has been
welcomed by residents, who had for long been demanding that the traffic lights
be fixed.
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association executive
director, Mr Cornilia Selipiwe, said the installation of traffic lights would
reduce the number of accidents in the city. Chronicle
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