Mutare’s Flyover Bridge set for expansion

Mutare (New Ziana)– Government will soon expand the Flyover along Mutare-Chimanimani road to ease congestion which is usually experienced during peak hours in the eastern border city of Mutare, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Motorists in the city have been complaining about the Flyover near National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) premises, saying it was too narrow and called upon responsible authorities to widen it to accommodate  huge volumes of traffic during peak hours.

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said contractors will soon start working on various roads which had gone for a long time without being  rehabilitated.

“In this city, you will soon see contractors working on various roads and the bridges at the railways where there is congestion and will also be attended to. A new bridge will be constructed to ease congestion.

“We expect this to have been done long back by our council, but we are saying it’s no longer time for blame game but to put our heads together and progress forward as a nation,” said Mhona.

Manicaland`s Department of Roads has since been given the nod to identify registered and competent civil engineering contractors for the Flyover Road tender.

Procurement of materials for the project has commenced and will take a month to complete.
Acting Manicaland Provincial Roads Engineer, Kudzai Maganga said the Flyover section project is already taking shape.

“Authority was granted for the department to source competent civil engineering registered contractors to participate in the tendering process. The tender also invited contractors to repair internal roads at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister Mhona has warned contractors involved in the roads rehabilitation programme that they will have their contracts cancelled and would not be considered into future programmes if they fail to meet expected standards.

“We have contractors who under bid for their jobs in order to get contracts yet they don’t have the capacity to do job. We are not going to hesitate in cancelling contracts for such contractors and they will not be considered for future jobs,” said Minister Mhona.

There has been complaints of poor workmanship by some contractors, particularly in the towns and cities where some roads developed some potholes immediately after being rehabilitated.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa in February 2021 declared all roads to be in a national state of disaster following heavy rains that were received in 2020-2021 rainy season.

The President went on to launch the Emergency Rehabilitation Road Programme (ERRP2) to urgently ameliorate the devastation of the road infrastructure.

The ERRP 2 is  in line with the ethos of National Development Strategy(NDS1) whose key aspirations include infrastructural development as a key enabler in attaining Vision 2030.

Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA) has so far channelled ZW$9.5 billion of the ZW$17 billion it promised for road rehabilitation in 2022 alone.

Manicaland province was allocated a total of ZWL$444 246 412 under the Zimbabwe National Road Authority ERRP 2 disbursements to road authorities. 

New Ziana