Rehabilitate Our Roads Please-Residents

By Archford Chirimudombo

MARONDERA- Residents in this provincial capital of Mashonaland East province have had enough of poor service delivery and are demanding that the local authority take immediate action to rehabilitate roads which are in a sorry state.

The roads are a nightmare to motorists and pedestrians alike in residential areas especially when it rains as most are full of potholes. Some of the roads were worsened and damaged by recent rains that pounded the province.

Marondera Residents Open Forum (MAROF) director Tapiwa Chengeta said the local authority should urgently address the issue.

“Residents have been bringing forward to us the many issues that they feel should be attended to. They are paying for services that they are not getting. However, most residents feel that the municipality should rehabilitate roads especially in the residential areas.

“Potholes are now an eyesore on roads in suburbs like Rusike, Garikai and Dombotombo and Cherima. The roads situation was worsened by rains and most of them are now impassable. The council can patch the roads as a remedy but that is not recommended as the patches will be easily eroded,” Chengeta said.

He challenged the municipality to make use of the equipment which it obtained through the Mega Market deal to regularly maintain roads in Marondera.

“Our council has enough machinery and capacity to repair the roads. They acquired such through the deal that they entered into with Mega Market and we should not continue complaining about the same issue all the time,” the MAROF director said.

Only recently, the Municipality of Marondera issued a statement highlighting that it was on a road rehabilitation exercise that would see 3.05 kilometers of dirt roads being tarred under the Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP).

Roads to be rehabilitated through the ERRP will cost $1.27 billion. The local council further stated that it would also use its own internal resources-a staggering US$1.5 million-to rehabilitate some roads. The residents have welcomed the promises, but now want to see action by the local authority to help alleviate the plight of the motoring public.

The statement, in part, read: “Council has embarked on a widespread and extensive road rehabilitation project that will witness most roads getting a facelift to improve movement of vehicles on the roads. The road works will see mostly roads in residential areas being re-graveled, drain-lined, surfaced and culverted.

“Given the nature of road construction, council urges the commuting public to comply with the road works instructions pertaining to each specific road to ensure the smooth flow of road rehabilitation operations during construction. Council, under its department of works, regularly undertakes routine maintenance such as drain opening, culvert clearance, verge clearing and lining of drains in hotspot areas. The focus on rehabilitating the Municipality’s roads is in sync with council’s vision of becoming a vibrant city of service excellence which aligns with the National Development Strategy-1 (NDS-1) blueprint.”