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Law to mitigate accidents on cards

Transport
LOCAL government minister Ignatius Chombo says his ministry is facilitating the crafting of a Disaster Risk Management Bill that will help plug gaps in the country’s ability to deal with road carnage.

LOCAL government minister Ignatius Chombo says his ministry is facilitating the crafting of a Disaster Risk Management Bill that will help plug gaps in the country’s ability to deal with road carnage.

Report by Everson Mushava

Chombo said his ministry was concerned with the increasing number of road traffic accidents, particularly this year, which led to loss of lives and property.

“The ministry is concerned that numerous road traffic accidents occurred in 2012 leading to loss of life and property under conditions consistent with negligent driving,” Chombo told journalists last Friday.

“It is imperative for us to come up with legislative frameworks with the efficacy to enhance our capacity to prevent and respond to disasters.”

Zimbabwe has continued to lose lives due to road traffic accidents in the past years, particularly during the festive seasons.

Police blame drivers for negligent driving while motorists say the poor state of the roads is a major contributing factor.

Last Christmas holidays, Zimbabwe lost around 100 people in 899 accidents that left 671 injured.

There are fears the number of accidents could rise during the Christmas and New Years’ holidays.

“To this end, the ministry has facilitated production of a draft Disaster Risk Management Bill that is set to address the various gaps in the said sphere,” Chombo said.

Meanwhile, Chombo commended the City of Harare for successfully managing and controlling haphazard conversion of open spaces into alternative uses.

“I am happy to note that there is now significant compliance to the ministry’s directive on the matter and other dictates of best planning practices,” he said.

“In this regard, the city of Harare is urged to sustain the momentum with regard to remove of car sales that had illegally mushroomed throughout.”

Chombo said his ministry played a major role in facilitating the housing delivery system by pegging 15 000 residential stands throughout the country.

Zimbabwe’s housing waiting list backlog runs into millions.

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