GOVERNMENT says the land reform programme resulted in public roads adjacent to farms being neglected as the invaders opened new roads to the properties.
Transport and Infrastructural Development ministry secretary Theodius Chinyanga made the remarks on Friday during a two-day National Economic Consultative Forum Infrastructure Summit and Expo held in Victoria Falls last week.
“The land reform programme created a gap in funding of road infrastructure, maintenance of public roads adjacent to farms suffered under resourcing and was thus neglected,” Chinyanga said.
“The gap widened owing to new roads necessitated by the land reform programme.
“Road maintenance was initially delayed and later neglected, research was discontinued and the withdrawal of skills of experts through skills flight to other countries added to the crisis.”
Chinyanga said Zimbabwe could not support large road infrastructural development projects because of the economic situation.
He, however, said the establishment of tollgates had helped Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) to raise financial resources for road infrastructural development.
Zinara chief executive officer Nkosilathi Ncube said the country’s road network needed a major facelift starting with road condition surveys.
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“There is a need to conduct road condition surveys, capacitate road authorities with equipment and reduce the liability of equipment hire, closer management of road authorities and incentivise engineers at rural district councils,” Ncube said.
Government has embarked on an Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) after President Emmerson Mnangagwa described the country’s road network as a state of national disaster.
Under ERRP, the government is targeting to rehabilitate 10 000km of roads countrywide, mainly urban and trunk roads.
The Global Economy’s Survey rates Zimbabwe’s roads poorly and says they are to blame for accidents.
Government is, however, undertaking a road safety review.
