Masvingo gets ZWL$132m for road rehab
REGIS CHINGAWO
IN MASVINGO
Government has availed ZWL$132m to Masvingo City Council to finance roads rehabilitation in the city, the city’s Mayor Collen Maboke has said.
In February, the government declared all rural and urban roads a state of disaster to facilitate the release of funds for maintenance and repair works.
Statutory Instrument 47 of 2021 said a state of disaster exists in all rural and urban areas in Zimbabwe with effect from promulgation of the notice following the incessant rains that caused excessive damage to the road infrastructure network.
Maboke said the local authority has since engaged seven contractors to deal with the pathetic state of the roads in the city.
“While contractors will be working on some roads, the council will also be doing some routine maintenance works. (About) ZWL$22m has already been disbursed and procurement of materials is underway. We expect the state of our roads to greatly improve on the conclusion of the implementation of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme,” Maboke said in a statement.
Recently, the city’s acting town clerk, engineer Edward Mukaratirwa told Business Times that the construction of Chimusana Bridge and the road that passes through the bridge which is a gateway into town from the Mucheke suburb would be included under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme once funding was accessed from government.
Most roads in Masvingo have become deplorable and are littered with potholes that have grown deeper due to the recent rains.
The potholes are causing accidents which could be avoided.
Maboke also said Masvingo was still battling a water crisis as the electrical fault at Zesa Kyle substation which supplies power to Bushmead Water Works intake tower was still unresolved.
“…Therefore we are still connected to another electricity feeder and this feeder seems to have a bigger electricity consumption load. The electricity that reaches the water works intake tower is not sufficient to power two pumps and we therefore have been using only one pump from April 10, 2021,” he said.
He added: “Our supply capacity has therefore dropped significantly to below 50% and we are therefore following a water shedding schedule which we are also not being able to adhere to as a result of reduction in volumes of water pumped to the city whenever there is disruption of power supply.”
Maboke said the council has resolved to provide water bowsers to residents to mitigate against water shortages as some areas are now receiving water from their taps, once a week.
He said plans were underway to construct a road port in Masvingo that will be used by cross border buses, thereby boosting the council’s coffers as the buses will be paying some revenue to use the road port.
“We have instructed management to establish a revenue collection unit at Exor Service Station to collect bus ranking fees from cross border buses. (It could be) US$10 per entry and revenue collected would be ring fenced for the establishment of a road port,” Maboke said.
“We are also planning to rehabilitate Mucheke Bus Terminus to ensure that it conforms to modern standards and work will commence soon.”
