Govt purchases equipment for road maintenance
STATE-OF-THE-ART road maintenance equipment has been bought for the Government’s recently revived road maintenance units countrywide to ensure consistent monitoring and maintenance of all roads rehabilitated under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2), as the Second Republic continues prioritising infrastructure development.
The road maintenance units fall under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
All roads, even well-built new roads and rehabilitated roads, require regular maintenance to ensure that they last and that small faults are quickly repaired before they worsen. Lack of maintenance in the past is one of the reasons why some roads were so badly damaged.
Road construction falls under the infrastructure cluster and roads are regarded as key economic enablers in line with the vision of attaining an upper middle income society by 2030.In a statement, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development confirmed the purchase of the equipment yesterday.
“The ministry is upgrading its maintenance units in all provinces by procuring essential equipment for road maintenance, including: seven 8-tonne trucks, tractors and mowers, water bowsers, brush cutters, pavement cutters, plate compactors, pedestrian rollers and pickup trucks, among others.
Delivery of this equipment is currently underway, enhancing our ability to maintain and improve our road infrastructure,” reads the statement. The chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development, Knowledge Kaitano, thanked the ministry and partners’ for the outstanding work.
He said the project has been done with excellence so far and encouraged consistency.
Meanwhile, the reconstruction of the Marondera-Wedza Road is progressing well, with surfacing currently underway while at the Mbudzi Interchange, priming is in progress on the Masvingo Road-Glen Norah loop road.
Work on the Mukuvisi River Bridge is progressing steadily along the Harare Drive missing link in Waterfalls and once completed, the ministry will be closing the junction of Masotsha Ndlovu Way and Simon Mazorodze Road for safety reasons, as it poses a risk to motorists. Construction of Amalinda bridge is also currently underway and Government is also set to reconstruct Amalinda Road to make travel safer and more efficient for motorists.
Stabilisation of the base is also underway on the Braeside Road, on the section from Malta Road to Chiremba Road (behind OK Mart) while the newly rehabilitated section of Braeside Road from Vitalis Zvinavashe traffic circle to Malta Road is now open to traffic.
Local contractors have also assured the Government that they will deliver quality work on all roads and infrastructural projects assigned to them and to meet set out deadlines.