… As residents slam council for lip servicing
Felix Matasva
MUTARE– Council is racing against time as it targets to complete all intended road rehabilitation programmes before the rain season commences and ruin all their efforts.
City of Mutare Mayor Blessing Tandi said council is targeting to complete the ongoing Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) in the eastern border town before incessant rains start.
Tandi said this during a Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt Development (ZIMCODD) and TellZim News ‘HowFar’? Service delivery ward feedback meeting held at Mutare Holiday Inn over the weekend.
He indicated that the local authority had completed some projects and said the pending ones are expected to be completed anytime this month.
“We are contemplating connecting Hobhouse through Jeff road which is main commuters’ route to the high density suburb. We have a 1.7-kilometer stretch that we expect to be tarred under ERRP.
“All road projects should be completed before the rain season commences, that is between October and November,” said Tandi.
He claimed that under the ERRP, the city rehabilitated 1.3 kilometers of the Aerodrome road, 5 kilometers Magamba -Musikavanhu road while the local authority’s resources funded 3.2 km.
The city had reportedly embarked on pothole patching on some roads that are in need of attention after damage by last season’s rains.
Commenting on the state of road rehabilitation in the city, Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Association (MURRA) programmes coordinator, David Mutambirwa lamented ‘shoddy’ road rehabilitation done on some of the roads.
“I would want to hammer on the issue of compliance when it comes to road rehabilitation. There is need for effective monitoring for compliance in order to come up with a credible and up to standard road surface.
“You will realize that there are some roads which were done below standard for instance, in FairBridge there is a wetland and the road was poorly resurfaced,” said Mutambirwa.
The city is subcontracting the programme since it is incapacitated but has bought a pneumatic roller and chief spreader that is yet to be delivered.
Also speaking at the same event, TellZim News director, Golden Maunganidze said the feedback meeting will help journalists to amplify community voices and make public office bearers come face to face with the public.
“We are engaging residents and the media so that we give them a platform to meet and make follow ups on service delivery issues under the HowFar? Campaign launched by ZIMCODD. There are things that residents were promised, so we now want to see how far the local authority have gone in living up to their promises,” said Maunganidze.
The state of service delivery in most cities and towns around Zimbabwe have been in poor state prompting residents to accuse local authorities of neglecting ratepayers’ welfare through misplaced priorities.
