Business Reporter
TRANSPORT and Infrastructure Development Minister, Felix Mhona Monday urged citizens to be patient as the government moves to implement local roads rehab from local authorities.
Recently government took charge of local roads maintenance works following public outcries on the poor state of roads due to years of neglect under local authorities watch.
“This is not the time to continue pointing fingers. We need to make sure that we rehabilitate our sorry roads. At the end of the day, make sure that we are proud of our nation with improved road infrastructure,” he said.
He said most of the Harare City’s roads are in a sorry state after decades of management under the local authorities before the government’s takeover.
Mhona made the remarks on the sidelines of commissioning a section of Harare Drive Road and Skyline Asphalt Plant.
The high Asphalt facility can produce 120 tonnes of asphalt per hour, intended to accelerate road rehabilitation and pothole patching across the capital under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2).
Asphalt is a versatile composite material primarily used for paving roads, parking lots, and driveways, as well as for waterproofing applications. Market prices of asphalt are estimated between $5 to $13 per square metre for supply and installation, depending on the project’s size and complexity.
“The essence of this asphalt plant is that instead of outsourcing as was the practice in the past, we’ll be in a position to use our own product vis-a-vis going out to tenders. There are huge dividends to be drawn from this development which include a cut back on turnaround times, dealing with damaged roads sections will be much faster.
“All that is required to be done for those working on the roads is to pick up the Asphalt and attend to areas of need,” he said.
Earlier in the day Mhona officially commissioned the section of Harare Drive stretching from Chinzou Roundabout on Simon Mazorodze Road to Willowvale Road following rehab works.
The works included the construction of a new traffic circle at the Willowvale Road and Harare Drive intersection and the duplication/rehabilitation of the stretch leading to Chinzou. The section branches off from primary artery for traffic coming from Chitungwiza, Masvingo, and South Africa.
The Transport Minister implored the citizens of Harare and Zimbabweans in general to exercise calm as government moves in to deal with decades old roads infrastructure dilapidation problems.
