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Cde Chombo

Abigail Mawonde and Dorcas Jiri Herald Reporters
The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (zinara) and Harare City Council have embarked on a joint $4,1 million emergency road rehabilitation programme to repair cracked and potholed roads across the city.Speaking after inspecting roads that were being repaired in the city yesterday, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo hailed the co-operation between the council and the national road agency.

“This is a good sign of cooperation between our local authorities and Zinara,” he said.

“This kind of relationship will go a long way until all our roads are fully repaired and all motorists are proud to drive their cars on the country’s roads.”

Minister Chombo acknowledged the outcry by motorists over the poor state of roads.

“The complaints by motorists that the roads in the capital city have too many potholes are genuine and the onus is on the city fathers to make sure they get access to resources to ensure that the mending of roads especially potholes is done timeously, before the small potholes become big holes which make traffic movement in the city quite a nightmare,” he said.

“This is a good response but its not enough, we want to make sure that when funds become available all roads are resealed so that rains do not continue to damage them.”

Zinara provided $2,6 million while Harare City Council chipped in with $1,5 million for the project which aims to fix the city’s pothole strewn roads.

Road maintenance work is already underway with road repair teams working along Harare Drive and Robert Mugabe Way.

Some of the roads which are targeted for rehabilitation include Dieppe, Julius Nyerere Way, Cripps Road, Rotten Row, Prince Edward, Willowvale, Mangwende Drive West and Mazowe roads among others.