By Sharon Mautsi
The government this year declared the country’s roads as a state of national disaster. To this regard, it announced the launch of a US$400 million Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2) targeting major feeder roads into towns and cities. Bulawayo’s share of the money is Z$625 million (about US$7.2 million) for the rehabilitation of its estimated road network covering 2,460km.
However, the sad reality is that the city continues to mend and refurbish main roads which are frequently used by officials who visit. The disgrace in this is it sells a perfect picture of the city’s local service delivery yet it is just a broken system. As such, deep within the city and closest to households, motorists who are tax payers have their vehicles depreciate at the verge of dilapidated road infrastructure.
The above road is dominantly used by school children going to and from Tennyson Primary School, Milton High School, Townsend High School, Hillside Teacher’s College students among others. However, to navigate around the deadly potholes, motorists have resorted to driving at the edges of the road and in the process disregarding road traffic regulations, such as, “keep left.” Unfortunately, this endangers the lives of the school children who use the side of the road to walk to school.
In a similar scenario, the road next to Hillside Primary School is in the same dire state if not worse. Thus, these roads need urgent intensive rehabilitation by Bulawayo City Council to complement the works being done by the government on main roads.
