The reconstruction and rehabilitation of Masotcha Ndlovu Way, the main road running across southern Harare, has been completed by Government while five other major roads in the city will be completed soon.
This comes as Government continues to make progress under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2).
The other roads are: Lytton-Mufakose Road, Alpes Road, Pleasant Valley Road, Chitungwiza Road and Addington Lane near Borrowdale Primary School.
President Mnangagwa launched the US$400 million ERRP2, a countrywide initiative meant to improve the country’s road network and catch up on years of neglect by urban authorities.
Ongoing road projects include pothole patching,grading, re-gravelling, spot dumping, wash away repairs, culverts construction, reseals and rehabilitation.
ERRP2 has also created jobs as hundreds of people have been employed to work on the different projects.
In a statement this week, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development said infrastructure development and road rehabilitation continues countrywide.
“Striving to have world class roads by 2030, asphalt overlay is in progress on the Lytton-Mufakose Road. Surfacing is also in progress along Alpes Road from GeoPomona to Harare Drive. Surfacing is in progress on Pleasant Valley Road in Tynwald.
“Chitungwiza Road rehabilitation project progressing well. Surfacing now in progress, a section of 2,4km up to Manyame River Bridge. Masotsha Ndlovu Way rehabilitation completed and opened to traffic while road markings and final clearing works is set to be done soon. Asphalt Overlay is also in progress on Addington Lane rehabilitation project from Borrowdale Primary School to Harare Drive Traffic Circle,” reads the statement.
So far more than 50 000km of roads have been rehabilitated while 2 000 structures have been attended to since the start of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) in 2021.
Zimbabwe has an estimated road network of 84 000km, out of which 93 percent was in fair or poor condition and in need of rehabilitation or periodic maintenance. Government is also in the process of negotiating with potential investors for the rehabilitation of some of the country’s roads.
Soon, Government is expected to roll-out another major road restoration targeting not only highways, but those roads in communities and other feeder roads to ensure no one and no place is left behind.
The reconstruction of an 8km stretch of Alpes Road in northern Harare was also done through CMED (Private) Limited and the Government has moved on to repair and reconstruct other roads in residential areas countrywide.
Alpes Road, which stretches for about 17km up to Hatcliffe Extension under a range of names was rehabilitated after the Government bought equipment to rehabilitate roads in urban areas. The remaining 9km will also be reconstructed.
CMED has also implemented a number of road projects throughout the country since the Construction and Civil Works Unit began operations in March 2021.
Last month, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said negotiations between the Government and a potential investor for the rehabilitation of the Harare-Nyamapanda Highway and the Nyamapanda Border Post were underway.
The 235,8km Harare-Nyamapanda highway, which links Zimbabwe with Mozambique and Malawi, has been affected by an increase in traffic, especially haulage trucks transporting black granite from Murehwa and Mutoko.
Government has prioritised rehabilitation of major highways that include the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway, where the rebuilding is almost complete, and now the Harare-Chirundu highway, the northern leg of the same main north-south highway.
The Harare-Mutare dualisation is also in progress, with a 46km stretch from Harare going towards Marondera already completed and opened to traffic.
Many other key highways are being rehabilitated, including the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, as good roads are critical for the movement of goods.
Infrastructure development is at the heart of the Second Republic, which is in line with the aspiration of attaining an empowered upper middle income society.
In January, the Government also bought state-of-the-art equipment under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme as it moved to repair and reconstruct roads in most residential areas in and around Harare which are now in a bad state following council’s failure to rehabilitate them. The equipment was bought through CMED (Private) Limited.
CMED has implemented a number of road projects throughout the country since the Construction and Civil Works Unit commenced operations in March 2021.
Some of the major urban road projects rehabilitated by CMED in the last two years are Boshoff Drive in Harare; Kelvin South; Ruwa Mushanje; Paisley; Masotsha Ndlovu; Ceres; Kent; Masiyephambili in Bulawayo; Mbizo road in Kwekwe and Magamba Road in Mutare.
Source Zimsituation
