40 roads under rehab in Harare Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Felix Mhona (left) chats with permanent secretary in his ministry Engineer Theodius Chinyanga and Bitumen World Operations Manager Chris Seager (centre) during a tour to assess progress on the rehabilitation of Seke road in Harare yesterday. — Picture: Memory Mangombe

Freeman Razemba Senior Reporter 

THE Government has expressed satisfaction with progress in the rehabilitation of Seke Road under the Emergency Road Repair Programme Phase 2 (ERRP2) as the Second Republic continues prioritising infrastructure development projects countrywide.

The Seke Road rehabilitation project is being undertaken by Bitumen World, one of the biggest local construction companies.

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona yesterday toured some of the road rehabilitation projects in Harare and said infrastructure development was a priority for the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa.

Minister Mhona was accompanied by his Permanent Secretary Engineer Theodius Chinyanga, CMED (Pvt) Ltd managing director Mr Davison Mhaka and Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) officials.

They toured roads which included Seke, Kevin South, Boshoff, Cranborne and Paisley.

 CMED has also constructed five roads in the city and is now rehabilitating Paisley Road. 

In an interview during the tour, Minister Mhona said President Mnangagwa, as a listening President, had acted on the pleas of many road users that called for the road’s reconstruction.

“I am happy to report on these tremendous developments that we are witnessing and as you know, after the declaration by President Mnangagwa on the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, we have moved with speed and the good thing about these projects is that people will see for themselves,” he said. 

“We are not only targeting the urban roads, but we are also in the rural constituencies where we have covered most of the 10 provinces as we speak.” 

In Harare, over 40 roads have so far been rehabilitated from an initial target of 32 roads.

“For instance, Seke Road was not covered in the first phase and second phase of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, but once again, to demonstrate that we have a listening President, we started working on the road after people from Chitungwiza complained that it had not been attended to for ages,” said Minister Mhona.

“This is a major milestone and this road is not only going to link Harare to Chitungwiza, but as you know it goes to Wedza, Marondera and Manicaland.”

 Minister Mhona said from Seke Road, they were going to rehabilitate Masotsha Ndlovu Way from Hatfield up to Simon Mazorodze Road in Waterfalls and then St Patricks Road in Hatfield.

Road construction falls under the infrastructure cluster and roads are regarded as key economic enablers in line with the vision of attaining an upper middle income society by 2030. 

Seke Road — which stretches from central Harare to Chitungwiza — is a dual carriageway which has been in bad shape for a long time, especially the portion from Cripps Road to Maruta Shopping Centre in Hatfield and work on the busy road commenced on Wednesday.

Bitumen World operations manager Mr Chris Seager said they were happy with the progress they had made so in three days, saying they were on target.

“The contract is for a three-month period, but we wish to finish before that and there are no problems so far,” he said.

Mr Mhaka said there was going to be the rehabilitation of Rotten Row and other roads near Mupedzanhamo flea market.

The Government has so far spent over $1 billion on road rehabilitation, gravelling and drainage structuring as part of the Second Republic’s ERRP2 launched by President Mnangagwa early this year.

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