#MondayBlues:Zimbabwe Roads, A Horror Movie Likened To Wrong Turn

By Ross Moyo

Zimbabwe roads have been likened to the horror movie wrong turn inspite of improvements Zimbabwe National Road Authority Zinara have recently made on the once extremely crooked roads now ranked third scariest country to drive in, globally, by the Scrap car website headquartered in England.

Dr George Manyaya, since assuming Chairmanship of Zinara made the roads better by introducing government’s Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme ERRP, ZINARA funded which greatly improved the state of roads, particularly highways in Zimbabwe.

Despite Zinara’s strides under Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Felix Mhona and his deputy Joshua Sacco’s jurisdiction, whilst praises are in order, for a good job so far done more still needs to be done considering the country’s Potholed roads, with no clear markings and in some areas completely absent, screaming Zimbabwe’s road network still needs attention.

ZINARA has so far disbursed over ZW$2 billion (about US$50 million) for rehabilitation of roads across the country which were once declared a national disaster. The allocated money signifies 91% of its budget for this year alone.

Zimbabwe scored 6.9 out of 10, just below Venezuela which scored 6.97 and India which was placed first with a 7.15 score.

Scrap Car ComparisonScrap Car Comparison conducted a global survey involving over 2,000 motorists, where they were asked to answer out of 10 on how nervous they would be to drive in each country.

“We also wanted to help drivers around the world stay safe on the roads,” said Scrap Car Comparison.

The Southern African country’s poor rural road network was cited as a major reason for the score as the SADC nation was however praised for its maintenance of urban roads.

“Roads in Zimbabwe are generally kept in good condition, particularly in big cities, however, roads in rural areas are less well maintained,” read the report.

“Fuel shortages are also relatively common in the country.”

Morocco (fourth) and Tunisia (seventh) are the only other African countries in the Top 10.