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Political Editor

THE GOVERNMENT has so far spent more than $1 billion on road rehabilitation, gravelling, drainage structuring as part of the Second Republic Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2) that was launched by President Mnangagwa early this year.

The ongoing rehabilitation of the country’s roads dovetails with the New Dispensation thrust of modernising the national transport infrastructure, which is a key enabler for economic growth and development.

So far the ERRP2, which has been running for four months, has seen 220,8km of roads being rehabilitated while 22,8km have been resealed, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development Engineer Amos Marawa told The Herald.

Engineer Marawa added that 2 161km of roads have been re-gravelled, while 6 627,9km have been graded. 701 drainage structures have been constructed or repaired and with a total of 184 wash-ways having been reclaimed.

Across the country 4 491,5km of drains have been opened while 6 141,2km of verge has been cleared, while progress continues to be made on the patching of potholes with a cumulative of 4 794,8km having been attended to. 

Eng Marawa said thus far $1 457 244 963,98 had been disbursed to road authorities under the ERRP 2.

Of that amount, $385 813 212,75 has gone to the Department of Roads, $426 243 060,00 to the District Development Fund, $372 655 323,29 to urban local councils, and $272 533 367,94 to rural district councils, with $12 688 381,73 going to administrative expenses as Government walks the talk on ensuring that no one is left behind.

While urbanites have been subjected over time to sloppy service delivery from successive MDC Alliance ran councils, the launch of the ERRP2 by President Mnangagwa in April has seen the critical infrastructure being rehabilitated.

In the capital city Harare where the MDC A last year only managed to rehabilitate a paltry 1,1km against its set target of 120km, road works are taking place everywhere in what is reflective of the developments that are taking place across the country.

“The activity and progress that has so far been registered in Harare is a result of the ERRP2 efforts by Urban Local Authorities and the Department of Roads. This being a national programme, similar progress is being made in other areas. In rural areas, works are being conducted by Rural District Councils, District Development Fund (DDF), and the Department of Roads. Significant progress has been made so far and such progress is captured in the national progress report that is periodically submitted to Cabinet,” he said.

In April Government, responding to the plight of the population launched the $33,6 billion ERRP2 which has created thousands of jobs across the country, furthermore, the country did not borrow any financial institution to carry out the development projects. Government is targeting to rehabilitate 10 000 road infrastructure.

At the launch of the second phase of the roads rehabilitation phase, President Mnangagwa said infrastructure is a critical cog as the country journeys to become an upper-middle-class economy by 2030.

“My Government heard the outcry of our people as movement on our roads has become cumbersome, costly, and indeed risky. 

“As a result, on February 9, 2021, the Government declared the state of all our roads a National Disaster, thereby giving impetus to the operationalisation of the Second Phase of the Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2). 

“This programme is vital given that roads are intricately linked with our economy within the country and beyond. Furthermore, a good transport network is an important cog in the realisation of a wide array of the sector priorities and objectives outlined in the National Development Strategy 1, as we journey towards Vision 2030. Hence, my administration remains seized with the provision and maintenance of sustainable infrastructure and other associated services,” the President said.