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Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent

MIDLANDS Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Senator Larry Mavima, has decried the dilapidated state of roads in Kwekwe City and challenged the local authority to urgently rehabilitate them.

The minister had a first-hand experience of the poor roads when he was taken for a tour around the city’s Mbizo and Amaveni suburbs this week. He also assessed a number of projects before later commissioning facilities donated by Zimasco to the local authority.

In his remarks Minister Mavima jokingly compared the potholes in the city’s roads to Pfumvudza/Intwasa holes before quickly urging the local authority to take action.

“I urge the local authority to prioritize rehabilitation of roads. The roads are not looking good,” said Mavima.

“I want to encourage Kwekwe City and other local authorities to tap into industry’s expertise so that these devolution funds bring a positive change to our communities.

“Where the local authority is falling short in terms of skills and expertise, why not engage industry where this expertise is readily available?”

The council recently introduced a two percent roads levy, which the is supposed to be channeled towards road repair and maintenance. The rainy season has worsened the situation with most roads littered with potholes, giving motorists torrid times.

Using the devolution funds for 2020, Kwekwe purchased material for use to repair roads but this seemed insignificant. The city has one of the worst road networks with authorities on record saying these were beyond repair. Meanwhile Minister Mavima officially commissioned service vehicles purchased by the local authority in a quest to improve service delivery. Kwekwe City purchased a tipper truck, a tractor, and three pick-up trucks all valued a total ZW$4,6 million.

The local authority also received a boost of a refuse compactor from Zimasco among other facilities including solar powered boreholes that were drilled across the city.