Delays in the rehabilitation of roads in Mberengwa under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) have triggered concern among the locals.
The roads under rehabilitation include the one that connects Zvishavane and Rutenga, which is expected to shorten the distance people travel between Beitbridge and Zvishavane.
Marko Raidza, the member of parliament for Mberengwa East constituency, said the pace at which the roads were being rehabilitated was slow, and if the work was not complete before heavy rains come it would cause difficulties for the traveling public.
“We have a road called Rutenga-Zvishavane and we saw contractors do some work on the road and our observation is that they are not working at the right pace,” said Raidza. “We urge the Department of Roads in the province to make sure the contractor speeds up the work and meets all the set targets, he also said.”
He added: “We also have a road that links Ingezi and Utsanana. The contractor came and did some work but we observe that the contractor is not performing to our expectations.”
Raidza said there were some bridges that needed to be repaired before the rainfall activity intensified.
“We have a bridge called Mabori and right now we are worried that when rains come it will be difficult for people to use the road. If the bridge is not fixed soon, it means people will be forced to use longer routes to travel to Zvishavane, where they will travel an extra 80 kilometres.”
He said that the responsible authorities should expedite the process to ensure smooth movement by people during this rainy season.
The ERRP was launched by the government to repair some roads, and the related infrastructure, that were destroyed by heavy rains early this year.