Mutare seeks US$90m for road rehab

SYDNEY SAIZE IN MUTARE

The Mutare City Council (MCC) is seeking about US$90m to
rehabilitate its entire road network that stretches to over 500km, Business Times can report.

The local authority has been struggling to mobilise funding to
rehabilitate its road infrastructure, which is in a dilapidated state.

The dire situation has forced the city to table a fresh financial bailout
request with the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA).

MCC’s spokesperson Spren Mtiwi confirmed the request for a bailout
from ZINARA.

“We require approximately US$89m attending to our road
network that stretches to more than 500km. We need to reseal, maintain and upgrade our road network,” Mtiwi said.

“We have since sent an SOS emergency request to ZINARA
for the disbursement of an amount close to $3m.

Our road network is in bad state because of the current rains. So we have since taken that deliberate position to request for emergency funds to attend to our roads that really need upgrading and maintenance.”
He said in addition to upgrading the city roads, the council was
attending to blocked drainages due to flooding of major roads.

At times, run-off water gets into businesses and residential properties.

“We are also carrying out drainage clearing exercise so that we attend to
the challenges concurrently, but our clarion call is on residents and other
rate payers to pay up so that we carry the work smoothly with available
resources,” Mtiwi said.

Most roads around the country are in a bad state following the incessant
rains that fell in the past few weeks.

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