Lorraine Drive has been officially opened to traffic today by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Hon Felix Tapiwa Mhona.
3.2kms of Lorraine Drive, up to the Westgate roundabout, was rehabilitated to a standard equivalent to the Harare-Beitbridge road.
Speaking at the official opening, Engineer Maguta of Fossil stressed that the road has been upgraded to highway standards.
“The asphalt thickness is 50mm. This road has been upgraded to highway standards. It can now carry 30-tonne haulage trucks and abnormal trucks.
“The standard of this road is now equivalent to the Harare-Beitbridge road, so trucks are allowed to use Lorraine Drive,” Engineer Maguta said.
This follows a public outcry in 2024 when the road was not constructed properly and started to deteriorate.
Hon Mhona, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, stated that the 2nd Republic does not condone issues with low quality.
“Finally, Lorraine Drive has been opened to traffic. It was one of the detour roads that was used during the SADC meetings. Heavy traffic was directed onto this particular stretch, which could not accommodate the volume, and it eventually collapsed. This gave citizens reasonable grounds to question how the road had been constructed.
“We assured the citizens that the contractor would redo the work, and today we are witnessing this wonderful piece of work. To answer the people of Zimbabwe, the 2nd Republic, championed by His Excellency President Mnangagwa, takes seriously issues related to quality, and if you don’t do quiet precisely, we mandate you to redo not only this project but a number of projects,” Hon Mhona said.
Zimbabwe is currently using its own resources to rehabilitate approximately 90,000km of road aroun the country without the help of the World Bank or IMF.
Story by Farirai Mutumburanzou
