LOCAL Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday said he would seek President Robert Mugabe’s help in dealing with Harare’s dilapidated road network, which is characterised by gaping potholes.
by STAFF REPORTER
Most of Harare’s roads are in a deplorable state and Kasukuwere, following a tour of some parts of the city, accompanied by Transport minister Jorum Gumbo and acting Harare mayor, Herbert Gomba, declared the situation a “state of disaster”.
“We will use contracts that we have and will seek the necessary support. I do not think delays will help us anymore. We will certainly write to the Office of the President and Cabinet and waiver some of the requirements because we have a state of disaster.
“If we allow this to continue for the next two to three weeks, we might not have any road to talk about in Harare. As it stands, we are now even affecting the foundation of the roads because the tar is gone,” Kasukuwere told journalists afterwards.
“I think the point the minister (Gumbo) has made is that Harare is not the Vatican, Harare is not on its own, we are together, City of Harare and government, because Harare is the capital city.”
Gumbo said he had already consulted with Treasury on the possibility of redirecting money from the Road Fund towards roads rehabilitation.
“The other roads in the country are in a deplorable state. I have been around. I have met the road authorities around the country so they are also busy doing that (rehabilitating roads), but, as you can see, the concentration of people and cars in Harare is far bigger than what you meet outside.
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“We have already asked the Finance ministry to allow us to use some of the money we call road access funds to rehabilitate the Harare-Beitbridge-Victoria Falls Road, Beitbridge-Chirundu Road and all those other roads you are talking about. Our last meeting was in Bulawayo over the weekend,” Gumbo said.
Most of Zimbabwe’s roads have outlived their life-span, as they were constructed in the colonial era.
