GWERU City Council is only able to maintain 35% of its surfaced road network due to lack of capital, a senior council official has said.
BY STEPHEN CHADENGA OWN CORRESPONDENT
The city director of engineering services Jones Nanthambwe said council was unable to fulfil its mandate because the assistance in road maintenance from Zimbabwe National Roads Agency (Zinara) had significantly declined.
Nanthambwe said the city was only able to employ temporary measures such as patching up potholes, especially in the central business district (CBD).
In a recent report on the status of water supply and road maintenance in the Midlands capital, Nanthambwe said: “Road maintenance has been a major problem due to the fact that it is capital-intensive. The city is only able to maintain 35% of the surfaced network which is heavily potholed.”
He said the city was currently using a hired truck to ferry gravel used to patch up the potholes, but needed to purchase pothole-patching equipment.
Residents have been complaining about the increasing amount of potholes that have gone unattended in most suburbs and have been expanding at a frightening rate due to the recent heavy rains.
“To date, only cold premix is being supplied on a collect basis from Harare. This entails hiring of a 30-tonne truck every time such a trip is made. The city needs to purchase a Mobile Asphalt Plant at a cost of $135 000 to be used for the preparation of cold or hot mix for pothole patching,” Nanthambwe said.
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Council has been struggling to provide adequate service to residents despite coming up with projects to improve the city’s revenue flow such as vehicle clamping.
