MILLICENT HUNGWE
MASVINGO-Rekayi Tangwena Avenue which is in a deplorable state with potholes throughout the road stretch has finally been allocated funds for its rehabilitation under the Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) Phase 2.
Rekayi Tangwena stretches from Victoria Junior Primary School to Halsteds Builders Express in Greenfields Street.
Masvingo Provincial Roads Engineer Augustine Chigwereve confirmed that everything is now in place and the contractor is mobilizing equipment to begin work as soon as the contract has been signed.
“Next week by Wednesday the contractor, Madzimbabwe should be on the ground as the contract is in Harare for signing to begin rehabilitation of Rekayi Tangwena Avenue,” said Eng Chigwereve.
Motorists have been complaining about the poor state of the road, which is plagued by potholes, including a large one near Edison Zvobgo Street.
The road was initially allocated to Masimba Holdings and Oplenac Pvt Ltd in 2021 but due to drying of funds the contractors abandoned the project under ERRP Phase 2.
Motorists including pedestrians have been complaining of damage to their tyres and suspension since the road has big boulders which hit the underneath of vehicles if one is not careful enough or is unaware of the state of the road.
Motorists are resorting to using the sides of the main road to avoid damages to their vehicles, but by doing so they are further destroying the drainage of the road.
The government started the ERRP 2 in February 2021 after all roads were declared a state of national disaster with the aim to improve the road network which was extensively damaged during the rainy season with some of them having gone for over 10 years without being attended to.
This program ran from March to December, 2021 and its focus was on repairing 26 000km of the road network with the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration taking over rehabilitation of the roads in the country’s urban areas.
ZINARA contracted companies that were involved in the widening of Beitbridge-Harare Highway that is Exodus and Company, Masimba Holdings, Tensor, Bitumen World and Fossil including Oplenac to rehabilitate damaged urban roads, surprisingly the Rekayi Tangwena stretch was left unfinished after being ripped.
Road users and touts said that walking even on foot is very dangerous because of the protruding stones and gullies that were left unattended by the contractors in 2021.
They said it is a shame that such shoddy work is done in the country’s oldest urban settlement and on such a historic road named after a national hero.
“It is very disturbing to see such a bad road in town and knowing fully well that the Ministry was rehabilitating the roads throughout the country this particular one was left without being finished and this road has been damaging our vehicles’ suspensions and tyres, we hope the responsible authorities will quickly attend to it as it is a bad advertisement of the ancient city,” said a fuming motorist who plies the Rhodene-City route with his mushika shika.
One of the vendors that sell food stuffs along the road also mentioned that due to the state of the road they are prone to diseases that are dust related due to the state of the road and appealed for urgent action to rectify the problem.
“There was absolutely no need for ZINARA or Ministry to contract a company and allow it to rip off the road like that if they didn’t have the budget.
“Now the road is causing a lot of problems especially to those who are new to the city as they are bound to just turn into the road and encounter boulders and gullies that can cause serious damage to their vehicles,” said Edmore Mutsviri who stays in Rhodene.
