AfricaPress-mozambique: The roads in Cabo Delgado province are in poor condition, with huge potholes worsened during the last rainy season.
The situation is considered critical by many drivers, who constantly complain about the hardship they experience, and do not understand how the government can remain indifferent.
“The road from Pemba to Chiúre is not good, even the Pemba-Montepuez road. It’s full of potholes. We drivers regret this, and we don’t understand why the government doesn’t want to rehabilitate them,” transport driver Roger Gelane complains.
The poor condition of Cabo Delgado’s roads is forcing motorists to spend undue amounts of time in workshops repairing their vehicles.
“All the time, we are changing steering ball joints, triangles and triangle bars. The vehicle owners say that the drivers do not know how to drive, but that’s because they do not know that the problem is with the road,” Jofre Fernando says.
In addition to the damage caused to vehicles, the poor condition of roads causes accidents, drivers say.
“There have already been accidents because of the poor conditions of the access roads. This happens when people are trying to avoid potholes,” Nacer Burange says.
Motorists are calling for urgent intervention given the gravity of the situation, to solve the problem which is hindering the movement of people and goods and causing enormous damage to vehicles.
“We need either rehabilitation or the construction of a new road. We are tired of suffering because of the potholes that are damaging our vehicles and putting our lives at risk,” Assane Feliciano pleads.
‘O País’ sought clarification from the National Roads Administration (ANE), but it was not possible to obtain a comment on the rehabilitation of access roads because of the overloaded agenda of the provincial delegate, the ANE said.
Cabo Delgado has about 1,000 kilometres of paved roads, all of them potholed over almost their entire length.
