LOCAL contractor, Asphalt Products, has finished reworking a 5km stretch of Harare Drive after the Government confirmed that the company had been told its original effort was below the acceptable quality demanded in the contract.
The completion of the work on the stretch across northern Mount Pleasant between Sam Nujoma Street Extension and Alpes Road in Vainona was hailed by motorists, who urged the contractor to expedite the marking of the stretch.
The contractor this week said premarking works on the road had started, pending inspection and approval of the redone stretch by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona had ordered the contractor to redo the resurfacing of the road after it started caving in on many sections just after initial works had been completed.
A motorist, Mr Sam Mapingure, who lives in Mt Pleasant, welcomed the development, saying the move by the Government to ensure that all rehabilitated roads were up to standard was commendable.
"We use the road on a daily basis and some parts were not properly done but we have seen that the contractor has done a good job in the end," he said.
Another motorist, Mr Sam Paul, said: "I would like to thank the Government for continuing to inspect the roads to ensure that they are up to standard."
Another resident, Ms Portia Banda, said there was a need for the city to have good roads that would last for many years to come, adding that the completion of the road by the contractor would ease congestion.
Harare Drive has a length of more than 31km as a ring road around the eastern and northern suburbs and engineers and some residents have urged the Government rehabilitate it to ease traffic congestion in the city.
While the road was planned as a ring road around the whole city in the 1950s, in the south it exists in just short unconnected stretches. In November last year, the Government moved to construct a 790m link road and a bridge along Harare Drive in Houghton Park area.
The link road, which is brand new, is also part of the Mbudzi interchange which is set to ease the major traffic jams in the south of the city.
The new road stretches from a roundabout along Simon Mazorodze Road and passes between Houghton Park, Waterfalls Community Hall and Parktown onto Masotsha Ndlovu Way which stretches from Simon Mazorodze Road to Seke Road.
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Last week, the Government said contractors who carried out shoddy jobs on roads would not receive payment from the Government until they reconstructed them.
Accordingly, all projects are being monitored to ensure quality delivery of work and contractors who do not meet standards will be ordered to redo the work using their own resources.
Contractors will only be paid after completing their work to the satisfaction of Government.
Asphalt Products managing director Engineer Francis Mangwendeza recently assured the Government that they would attend to the stretches of roads that they had not done properly.
The Government continues to make progress on road rehabilitation around Harare ahead of the 2024 SADC Summit to be held in the capital in August.
The Second Republic has put infrastructure development on top of its agenda and attention has been directed towards road rehabilitation and construction, which are at various stages.
