GOVERNMENT will soon rehabilitate and construct roads in the country’s major cities and towns which have been neglected by opposition-run local authorities for the past 20 years.
Despite receiving disbursements from the Zimbabwe National
Road Authority and also revenue from ratepayers, most local authorities have
been neglecting service delivery, and now the Government is stepping in.
Yesterday, Transport and Infrastructural Development
Minister Felix Mhona and Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and
Devolution for Harare Metropolitan Province Charles Tavengwa, among other
senior Government officials, toured some roads in and around Harare that are
being constructed.
In an interview, Minister Mhona said in any given economy,
good infrastructure is critical and the Second Republic is determined to see to
it that roads are improved.
“Today we are here, remember a month ago we were in Mapinga
doing a tour of Harare-Chirundu Road, but we promised the people of Zimbabwe
that it wasn’t going to start from Mapinga but here from the main Post Office.
This section is being done by Fossil and we are saying to the people of
Zimbabwe that whenever we measure our roads they start from the Main Post
Office and that’s why we are here.
“And we are demonstrating to the people of Zimbabwe that
when we say we have a listening President, Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa,
what we mean is that in any given economy you need good infrastructure and the
idea of the Second Republic is to run the trajectory of enhancing our
infrastructure and today you have seen that we are reclaiming the roads.
“Allow me to say to the people of Zimbabwe, we are not just
doing this willy-nilly to say we no longer need this road but the tonnage that
is going to use this road is what has necessitated this reclamation of the
tarred road,” he said.
Minister Mhona said the idea of doing the tours was to
demonstrate the work ethic of the Second Republic.
“And you will see us, not only in Harare but also in other
provinces and I am sure next week or so we will be in Buhera. Remember His
Excellency promised the people of Buhera that we are going to rehabilitate
Buhera, Birchenough-Murambinda Road. And I also want to say to the people of
Zimbabwe and in particular to the people of Buhera that we are descending on
Buhera just for that noble cause and we are ambassadors of His Excellency Cde
Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. We need to champion and move with speed when it
comes to implementation of road infrastructure,” he said.
Minister Mhona said most roads fall under the purview of
his ministry but local authorities, like Harare, are in charge of their own
roads.
“When you talk of city roads, they are under the purview of
the local authorities but for the past 20 years, we have seen that our roads
were neglected in cities. And His Excellency, the listening President, said we
cannot continue watching and we need to move on. Others are saying it’s because
of SADC (summit) but SADC will come and go, we need good infrastructure when it
comes to our roads in cities.
“But we are here again saying, as we rehabilitate the
Harare-Chirundu highway, we are also going to be covering over 40 roads within
the greater Harare area. So we have just started here and by next week we will
be opening this road to traffic to demonstrate the seriousness that we are
taking this assignment as a ministry. And not only Harare, all city local
authorities, we will descend on Bulawayo, Gweru, just to mention a few and we
will also attend to the rural constituencies where we also come from,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Minister Tavengwa applauded
the commitment and support exhibited by central Government to transform city
roads.
“We are all here to witness the vision of His Excellency
the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa on road
infrastructure development being translated into reality by his capable
administration.”
Major roads in Harare have been closed for massive
rehabilitation ahead of the 44th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit
scheduled to be held in Harare in August.
At least 40 greater roads in and around the city have been
lined up for the rehabilitation exercise which is being spearheaded by the
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development. Herald
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