BY BRENNA MATENDERE
GWERU City Council has embarked on a road rehabilitation exercise, following an outcry by residents and motorists over the poor state of the infrastructure.
Council spokesperson Manford Gambiza said the exercise was being conducted in the western parts of the city, but would soon spread to other suburbs.
“City of Gweru is in the process of rehabilitating major public service roads city-wide. Presently, City of Gweru has prioritised the western public roads, which consist of Mora, Mutambara, Swazi and Chidanana Roads in Mkoba,” he said.
He said motorists were, however, hampering the road rehabilitation exercise.
“Council has observed that our beloved motorists are removing barricades on the roads and using the roads before completion. This has damaged the roads. Council encourages the motorists not to use roads that are under reconstruction. This is a cost to council because we are now forced to re-do damaged areas,” said Gambiza.
“Council has also observed that motorists are ignoring clearly marked informative signs, thereby risking the lives of their passengers. We encourage motorists to approach these areas with due caution to avoid accidents. Road rehabilitation is meant to benefit the generality of the Gweru population, so we have to respect the process.”
Cornelia Selipiwe, the Gweru Residents and Ratepayers’ Association (GRRA) president said: “We appreciate the work that the council is doing on the roads. Most of the roads in Mkoba had become deplorable and motorists, especially those in the public transport sector, have been struggling with their business. But our plea to council is that Gweru is big so there is need to reach other parts of the town which equally have bad roads,” he said.
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The GRRA leader also urged the corporate world to assist the cash-strapped council with resources to complete the exercise.
“We all know that the city council is struggling financially. So our call goes to all the organisations and people who can chip in with resources to do so. The city is known for being the hub of progress and so we are saying let’s all join hands to develop our city,” Selipiwe said.
