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Herald Reporters
Harare City Council, which has embarked on a road repair project, is appealing to investors with interests in infrastructure development to come forward and partner the city in the rehabilitation of roads. Council has started repairing a number of roads using a $25 million facility.

Of the $25 million, $12,9 million is from the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration under the Road Fund, while council contributed the remainder. The amount is a drop in the ocean as council requires almost half a billion to repair all its roads which are in poor state following years of neglect.

Most roads in Harare are impassable and the situation is worse in high-density areas like Glen View, Budiriro, Kuwadzana Extension and Mufakose.

In an interview with The Herald, Harare City Council corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme said council was concerned by the poor state of roads, but required more resources to repair them. “We are fixing roads right across the city, for as long as there are roads in Harare that require maintenance and rehabilitation, we will repair them,” he said.

“So far we are using a $25 million facility. We got $12,9 million from Zinara under the Road Fund. As council, we raised the balance of $12 million.

“Overall, we require over half a billion to re-do all city roads.”  Mr Chideme said the $25 million facility was a drop in the ocean when compared to the amount of work that needed to be carried out.

“We are calling for companies with interest in infrastructure development to come on board so that we come up with workable modalities,” he said. Mr Chideme said council had so far repaired 20 roads across the city.

Some of the suburbs that have seen roads being repaired include Highfield, Waterfalls, Acturus, Gletwin, Msasa and parts of Willowvale. Council has also started repairing roads in the city centre.