Mat-North Correspondent
The Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA) has completed the rehabilitation of a 35 km St Mary’s-Lusetshe road in Hwange District, Matabeleland North Province.
The road was repaired under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation (ERRP) Programme launched at the beginning of the year, as the New Dispensation continues to give precedence to infrastructure development in line with the attainment of an Upper Middle Income Economy by 2030.
Government is targeting more than 26 000km of road under the ERR this year.
A tour of the road by the Harare Post on Friday revealed that the rehabilitation works on site included grading, re-gravelling, widening of some parts of it and opening of water drains among others.
ZINARA representative for Matabeleland North told the Harare Post that the authority had targeted more roads for rehabilitation in the province.
“I can confirm that we have completed the repairing of the St Marys-Lusetshe road. The road is now passable,” he said.
Villagers who spoke to Harare Post applauded Government for expediting the completion of the road project.
“We thank Government for repairing the road. The road means a lot to us as it links us with Hwange town where we get crucial services such as banking, shops, market for various produce and health,” said Laina Moyo from Lusetshe.
Another villager from St Marys, White Mudenda said the bad state of the road had led other transport operators to abandon the route.
“Most reliable transporters had stopped plying this route but they have since returned, making it possible to travel throughout the day. We are also grateful because ZUPCO has also introduced a bus on this road,” he said.
According to the timelines set for this year, 840km of road across the country will be rehabilitated and reconstructed, while 8,340km will be re-gravelled with 17 093km of road network set to be re-graded.
Within the same period, Government will also reseal 1 290km of road, reconstruct 427 drainage structures and work on 24 830km of erosion works and drains across the country.
