THE Gweru City Council is only able to maintain 35% of its surfaced road network due to lack of capital, a senior council official has said.
STEPHEN CHADENGA OWN CORRESPONDENT
In a recent report on the status of water supply and road maintenance, the city’s director of engineering services Jones Nanthambwe said the Zimbabwe National Roads Agency’s assistance in road maintainence had declined significantly.
He said the city was only able to employ temporary measures such as patching up potholes, especially in the central business district.
“Road maintenance has been a major problem due to the fact that it is capital intensive,” Nanthambwe said.
“The city is only able to maintain 35% of the surfaced network which is heavily potholed.”
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He said the city was currently using a hired truck to carry gravel used to patch up the potholes and needed to purchase pothole patching equipment.
Residents have been complaining about the increasing amount of potholes which have gone unattended in most suburban areas and they have been expanding at a frightening rate due to the recent heavy rains.
“To date, only cold premix is being supplied on a collect basis from Harare. This entails hiring of a 30-tonne truck every time such a trip is made. The city needs to purchase a mobile asphalt plant at a cost of $135 000 to be used for the preparation of cold or hot mix for pothole patching,” Nanthambwe added.