‘Gone Are the Days of Shoddy Work’: Mhona Defends Road Repairs

By Kudzaishe Chimonera

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona has defended the government’s road rehabilitation programme insisting that stricter quality controls are now in place and urging the public to distinguish between temporary resurfacing and full road reconstruction.

Speaking during a live radio programme on Monday, Mhona acknowledged growing frustration over the poor state of some roads and concerns about contractor performance but said tighter monitoring systems had been introduced to protect public funds.

“We’ve got resident engineers on these particular sections and what we do if you don’t rehabilitate according to the expectations of the ministry we will not pay and gone are the days where you’ll just do shoddy work and then collect money from the fiscus,” he said.

The minister said some of the criticism stems from confusion over the type of work being carried out explaining that resurfacing is often a short-term measure intended to keep roads usable while government mobilises resources for full reconstruction.

“When we reconstruct a road, we are talking of 15 to 20 years of a solid road… but if we just lay asphalt at times, we’ll be making sure that the road is trafficable,” Mhona said warning that weaker sections may deteriorate quickly if only interim repairs are undertaken.

Listeners on the programme raised concerns about cracks and potholes appearing soon after works are completed as well as the cost of projects compared with those in neighbouring countries.

In response, Mhona said transparency and accountability were constitutional requirements noting that his ministry regularly appears before Parliament to account for how public funds are spent.

“It is their right… our supreme Constitution talks of transparency and accountability and therefore we are mandated to be accountable to the citizenry,” he said.

He added that procurement processes are overseen by statutory bodies with engineers’ estimates guiding tender awards while government continues to explore public-private partnerships to support infrastructure development.

The minister also cited external factors affecting road durability including overloaded trucks and vandalism.

“If you overload on our roads, it means you’re going to damage the lifespan of the road,” he said adding that weighbridges would be installed at strategic points to protect the network.

Mhona said he has stepped up field visits to assess conditions on the ground including recent inspections in Waterfalls and surrounding areas as part of what he described as a more hands-on approach.

“Normally people were used to just hearing ministers talking from their offices, but this is a different approach… we need to see,” he said adding that procurement processes for major reconstruction works were already under way.