Harare toasts to world-class roads
FOR years, Emmanuel Njagu, a longtime Chitungwiza resident, dreaded his daily trip to work in central Harare.
Driving through the pothole-riddled Harare–Chitungwiza road, commonly known as Seke road, was a nightmare.
Coupled with the pervasive traffic gridlock, which characterised the morning and evening rush hours, Njagu’s commute was always excruciatingly slow and unbearable.
For Njagu, a collection of deep potholes near Chinhamo service station and Koala Butchery near Zororo cemetery as well as another stretch of damaged road near Coca Cola corner were the most unbearable stretches of the road to navigate through.
“Travelling along this road was unbearable,” Njagu told The Sunday Mail last week.
“The first thing that one would think of before leaving home for work were the potholes and how long it would take to get to work.
“The road had become very narrow because of the potholes resulting in congestion during peak hours.”
When the Government took over 700km of urban roads for rehabilitation under the Emergency Roads Rehabilitating Programme (ERRP) earlier this year, Seke road was listed under the“very urgent”category, testament to its bad state and importance.
Seke road is a vital artery that stretches from the Harare Central Business District to Chitungwiza and links the capital city and the dormitory town with Mashonaland East province.
The road had last undergone major rehabilitation work over 20 years ago.
In August, refurbishment work on the road started in earnest and progress was swift.
The rehabilitation project was at 60 percent completion within a month, way ahead of schedule.
Now Njagu no longer dreads his daily commute.
“Travelling to and from work is now a joy,” he said.
“The movement of traffic has now improved. We no longer spend hours on end on the road.”
A total of 33 roads in the Harare Metropolitan Province covering 249,8km are currently being rehabilitated under ERRP.
Last week, The Sunday Mail toured some of the major roads undergoing rehabilitation to gauge the progress of the work. Masotsha Ndlovu
Way
Masotsha
Ndlovu is a key road in the capital that links Seke and Simon Mazorodze roads.
The road handles massive traffic volumes transitioning through Waterfalls and surrounding suburbs through to the Graniteside industrial areas and Mbare.
Mbuya Dorcas Hospital, one of the city’s most exclusive private health institutions, is also located along this road.
Over the years, the road had become impassable on account of neglect while gapping potholes had become a common sight.
Last week, close to 70 percent of the road had undergone asphalt overlaying and had been opened to traffic. The road had also been widened and workmen were busy with putting in place road markings.
Work has already started on the remaining 30 percent of the road.
Workmen working on the road said the remaining stretch will be completed by the end of this month.
Chiremba road
Contractors are also busy along Chiremba road, another key conduit which connects six residential suburbs north east of Harare including Hillside, Chadcombe, Hatfield and Epworth. Over 10 km have been resealed and rehabilitated.
Over the years the road had become extremely narrow resulting in increased traffic congestion.
The rehabilitation has so far covered the stretch from the confluence of Robert Mugabe road and Chiremba up to Queensdale shops.
Road concrete pillars have been put up on some sections of the road to curb illegal overtaking manoeuvres when traffic is heavy. Work has also started on the stretch from Queensdale shopping centre to Epworth.
Borshoff Drive
Borshoff Drive is an integral road linking Harare’s CBD to Graniteside and Mbare. The road handles huge traffic volumes en route to Mbare Musika, Mupedzanhamo Flea Market, Rufaro Stadium and Graniteside and had been extensively damaged. Over 60 percent of the road has now been rehabilitated.
Long overdue
Transport and Infrastructural Development secretary Engineer Theodius Chinyanga said Government was moving with speed to rehabilitate roads countrywide.
“Several roads around the country have outlived their design life and were showing signs of distress evidenced by heavy potholing and cracking,” he said.
“So Government is working on improving the road conditions around the country.
“Government is also exploring ways of augmenting its purse in order to achieve more than our original target and prevent further deterioration of roads and bridges.”
Harare Residents Trust director Mr Precious Shumba commended Government
efforts.
“There are strategic roads that have been spruced up, and widened to the pleasure of motorists,” he said.
“There is still a lot of work to be done, especially on roads linking high-density areas and the Central Business District.
“However, The Harare Residents Trust (HRT) commends the roadworks that have been done on Borshoff Road that links Seke Road, through Sunningdale, Ardbennie and Houghton Park up to Simon Mazorodze Road. From the Coca Cola corner along Seke road through to just after Maruta Shopping Centre along Seke road, the company contracted to upgrade that section of the road did very well.”
He said upgrading the Kuwadzana and Mbudzi roundabouts must be prioritised.
“Overall, the progress is commendable. The Government has to scale-up road infrastructure development projects to match the expectations of the citizens,” said Mr Shumba.
Town Planning expert, Dr Percy Toriro, said roads are a major economic enabler.
“The nation needs good road connectivity to facilitate different economic and social activities.
“Bad roads increase the cost of doing business and the flip side of it is that good roads help bring operational efficiencies and reduce travel costs.”
He said neglect of roads over the years imposed financial burdens on motorists whose vehicle maintenance costs were becoming unsustainable.
Said Dr Toriro:“There is appreciable progress on several roads. This has brought relief to many areas and to road users.
“Moving forward, all authorities must prioritise roads upgrades and maintenance.
“There should be strict schedules of both routine and programmed maintenance.
“There must also be plans to cater for population increase including better junctions and new roads”.
Government’s medium-term economic plan — the National Development Strategy (NDS)1 — prioritises road rehabilitation and the construction of new roads.