Story by Fungai Jachi
THE government has embarked on phase three of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) with the focus now on the reconstruction of bridges destroyed by heavy rains.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Engineer Theodius Chinyanga revealed this during a ZBC News Current Affairs programme ‘Face the Nation’ on Tuesday evening.
“We have moved to focus more on major bridges that were destroyed by heavy rains. Most of these bridged connect communities and it had become difficult for villagers and businesspeople. Of course, we will be doing roads as well but we will be concentrating more on bridges now because phase one and two was specifically for roads,” said Chinyanga.
Engineer Chinyanga also revealed that some contracts were cancelled after the contractors failed to fulfil their contractual obligations.
“I am pleased to announce that we terminated some contracts after they failed to do the work. This shows how serious we are in terms of getting the work done. What we want are results and if people think we will allow them to get paid without doing the work it won’t happen like that,” he added.
He also gave an update on ongoing roadworks including the Mbudzi traffic Interchange in Harare.
“Works on highways are almost complete and works on the Mbudzi Interchange are progressing well. It is not an easy task and it will take some time. The compensation of those that will be moved is on course. As a government we are pleased with the work we have done so far in terms of road rehabilitation,” he went on.
The Second Republic took a deliberate stance to rehabilitate the country’s road network to improve the movement of human traffic and goods.
