Harare – Government has moved to shore up its road maintenance capacity, deploying lowbed trailers to move heavy machinery between sites and acquiring 20 road-marking machines as part of a broader recapitalisation of the Department of Roads, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development has said.

In a statement, the Ministry said the delivery of lowbeds is underway to transport heavy equipment, including graders, rollers and bulldozers, which cannot travel directly on public roads.

The Ministry also confirmed the acquisition of 20 road-marking machines, with two allocated to each of the country’s 10 provinces, while urban areas will receive additional support to improve marking visibility and coverage.

“Clear, visible road markings are essential for guiding motorists, protecting pedestrians and reducing road safety risks,” the Ministry said.

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona has repeatedly framed road infrastructure as an economic catalyst, declaring during a tour of the Harare-Mazowe dualisation works: “It is not the wealth of the country that builds roads; it is the roads that build the wealth of the country.”

He has also insisted that “road safety is a critical national priority” that cannot be treated as a stand-alone issue.

The latest interventions form part of a wider recapitalisation drive that has already seen over US$700,000 paid for tools and small equipment to revitalise key Road Maintenance Units, with an initial 10 units—one per province—being equipped out of a total requirement of US$2.24 million.

Government has also announced plans to establish asphalt plants in all 10 provinces to produce premix for resealing and pothole patching, reducing reliance on externally sourced materials.

Zimbabwe’s road rehabilitation push dates back to 2019, when the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) was launched as a special initiative to accelerate repairs on the country’s dilapidated network.

The situation worsened in February 2021, when President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the road network a state of disaster, prompting the introduction of ERRP Phase 2 (ERRP2) under Statutory Instrument 47 of 2021. At the time, over 90 percent of the network was reported to be in poor condition.

Government set aside US$400 million for the first phase and $33.6 billion for the second phase, with the programme covering both major highways and rural roads.

The ERRP2 was initially conceived as a short-term response but was later extended to 2026 and evolved into a long-term infrastructure revival initiative aligned with Vision 2030.

Funding has been channelled through the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), which disbursed more than ZiG2.09 billion (approximately US$83.6 million) to road authorities in the first quarter of 2026 alone, 22 percent of the approved annual roads budget.

The 2026 road maintenance and rehabilitation programme was initially slowed by prolonged rainfall, but ZINARA reported that uptake of allocated funds was steadily gaining momentum.