POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY, CORRUPTION BLAMED FOR ZIM’S POOR ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

Political
expedience and greediness over pursuit of diligence, integrity, and
professionalism would best sum up the state of Zimbabwe road infrastructure,
Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers president Bernard Musarurwa has said.

Musarurwa
made the remarks while addressing a three-day road maintenance, construction,
and repair workshop in the capital last week which was organised by a technical
skills training service giant, Afriskills.

“What
aches the most with today’s road construction service providers is that they
are just out to pocket the most out of projects they work on thereby affecting
the quality of their work. There is neither passion nor zeal to leave a lasting
positive mark.

“You
get to a road construction site and ask the workforce the standard specifications
they will be using, to your dismay, you realise they do not even know of any,
it is just for money not passion,” said Musarurwa.

This
explains why roads built in the pre-independence era are still intact while
2000s’ roads, just a few years after their completion are already going through
some maintenance.

“This
has nothing to do with the material, to say, pre-independence road construction
materials were stronger than today’s. People are just out to pocket money, they
don’t apply the specified measurements, they judge with eyes,” he said.

“Politicians
have also been major players in the sorry state of our roads. In my experience,
I have encountered quite a number of cases where the local authorities are
forced to skip the formal procedures because a politician in the area wants the
work started and done in time to reinforce their campaign material.

“The
next rain season we are seeing that road in shambles bringing us to square one
all because of hurried work,” he added.

Meanwhile, as Zimbabwe is battling to upgrade and resuscitate its dilapidated road infrastructure across the country, up to three flyovers in the Harare Central Business District are risking a collapse.https://allafrica.com/stories/201909230714.html