Zimbabwe govt defends poor quality of rehabilitated roads

THE Government has defended the quality of recently rehabilitated roads amid growing public concern over potholes and other defects appearing soon after completion, saying contractors are only paid after engineers certify that work meets required standards.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development also said road construction contracts contain defects liability clauses requiring contractors to repair defects that emerge within the agreed liability period at their own cost.

The issue was raised in the Senate on Thursday after legislators questioned why some newly rehabilitated roads were already showing signs of deterioration.

Matabeleland South Senator Nonhlanhla Mlotshwa asked the ministry what measures were being taken to hold contractors accountable for allegedly substandard work.

"We realise that the roads that have been completed are deteriorating. What measures is the Minister using to hold contractors accountable for the substandard work that would have been done?" Mlotshwa asked.

Responding, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said contractors were not paid until ministry engineers had certified that the work complied with the required standards.

"In most cases, where you see contractors starting to do shoddy work, we do not pay until we certify that the work has been done," Mhona said.

"It is the other way round; if you see shoddy work being done, the contractor is not paid until we certify that the work has been done accordingly."

Mhona said contractors were also bound by defects liability clauses, which required them to rectify defects that emerged before the expiry of the agreed liability period.

"There is a defects liability clause in our contracts so that if it deteriorates before the agreed time, you are supposed to redo the work," he said.

However, the minister cautioned that not every road showing potholes shortly after rehabilitation had necessarily been poorly constructed.

He said some roads described by members of the public as newly reconstructed were actually resealed roads, meaning the existing road structure remained beneath the new surface.

According to Mhona, this distinction was important because a resealed road could retain weaknesses in its underlying structure, which could subsequently result in potholes appearing through the new surface.

"When we talk of road reconstruction, it means reconstructing a road from scratch… So, to a layperson, it is like shoddy work," he said.

Mhona explained that a properly reconstructed road could have a design life of about 20 years, provided routine maintenance was carried out approximately every five years.

Meanwhile, Senator Solani Moyo, also from Matabeleland South, raised concerns over stalled road projects, including sections of the Plumtree and Matopo roads.

He asked when the affected projects would resume and be completed.

Mhona acknowledged that some road projects had stalled but said work had resumed on sections of the Matopo Road.

He said all contractors were expected to be fully mobilised in the coming weeks.

The minister also said Government had approved a new infrastructure financing framework intended to unlock funding for delayed road projects through financial institutions.

"We now have a framework for funding our infrastructure. We have mobilised funding through banks and we will be funding those stalled projects," Mhona said.

The Government's position comes amid mounting public scrutiny of the country's road rehabilitation programme, with motorists and communities increasingly demanding durable infrastructure and greater accountability where public projects fail to meet expected standards.

The debate has also highlighted the need for clearer communication about the difference between full road reconstruction and resealing, as well as stronger monitoring of roads during and after their defects liability periods.