Part of Nemakonde Way opens to traffic

Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter

A SECTION of the refurbished and widened Nemakonde Way (formerly Lomagundi Road) has been opened to motorists and other road users.

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona opened the completed section of Nemakonde Way from Harare Drive to the Westgate traffic circle on Tuesday this week.

Fossil is the contractor carrying out the road works on Nemakonde Way.

In an interview, Minister Mhona said his Ministry was delighted to open the completed section.

“And the intended purpose of this visit is to showcase to the people of Zimbabwe that whenever we say we have got a listening President, His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa this is exactly what it entails.

“You have seen that we are having a number of problematic roads in the city.

“So the idea was the to descend on such roads.

“And I want to commend the Second Republic for championing and opening economic enablers in terms of road infrastructure to connect with neighbouring countries.

“You know this is part of one of the trunk roads that we have in Zimbabwe.

“And we started from Julius Nyerere and today we are witnessing this section towards Westgate,” he said.

Nemakonde Way links Harare with farming and mining towns of Banket, Chinhoyi, Karoi, the resort town of Kariba all the way to the Chirundu Border Post into Zambia from where travellers can connect to Tanzania and the DRC.

Addressing guests at the opening of the road section, Minister Mhona bemoaned the fact some of the contractors hired by Government were doing poor work citing the one along Harare Drive.

“And it’s quite a sorry state and I can say this again, we have said under the Second Republic, we don’t pay for shoddy works.

“Let me reiterate, we don’t pay for shoddy works.

“So the contractors know very well where road works were done not properly, they will not be paid until we are satisfied.

“So they are now used to this culture,” he said.

Minister Mhona said in the past when business people won tenders they would go on to marry more wives and buy flashy cars but under the current dispensation, wasting resources was not acceptable.

“We are saying if we see a section that is not done properly, we will mandate the contractor to redo it,” he said.

The Minister emphasised that the roads were not being spruced for the forthcoming SADC summit only but for use by Zimbabweans long after the summit.

“Today we are here witnessing this beautiful road and its part of the Harare-Chirundu Road. You heard the contractor that they started at the Main Post Office and others are saying it’s because of the Sadc (summit). But I always say even culturally when you have got visitors, you make an extra effort to clean your house. So it’s not surprising that because there are visitors coming, the utensils that we don’t usually use will be used.”

He said Zimbabwe was managing to mobilise resources for infrastructure projects under President Mnangagwa even when the country is battling western imposed economic sanctions.

“If you go to Nyanga, roads are being repaired. If you go to Bulawayo, they are repairing roads but there is no Sadc summit there.

“The culture and work ethic of the Second Republic is to make sure that the economic enablers for instance, the roads, we upgrade in tandem with the Sadc dictates and at the end of the day, we enable business to move smoothly.”

Minister Mhona said there were some who wish Government fails to meet the deadline.

“It happens in our society.

“But it’s not about the Ministry, it is about us as Zimbabweans, our own infrastructure, what we are building as a country for posterity so that those who come later see the achievements made,” he said.

The Minister assured the nation that road networks countrywide in need of rehabilitation will be covered.

“We assure the people of Zimbabwe that we want to attend to our road network as a whole not just those designated roads for Sadc purposes. But we cannot do it in a single day,” he said.