$330k for Chiredzi roads

Tawanda Mangoma in Chiredzi
The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration has availed $330 000 towards the servicing of rural roads destroyed by Cyclone Dineo in Chiredzi District. The poor roads had become a nightmare for the motoring public with some bus operators withdrawing services from the district. Chiredzi South Member of Parliament, Retired Brigadier-General Kalisto Gwanetsa, confirmed the development saying Zinara had availed a dedicated fund to the Department of Roads under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development.

He said the funds would be channelled towards the repair of roads in Malipati, including the main road which was last attended to over a decade ago.

“Zinara availed $180 000 towards the rehabilitation of a key service road from Makambe, Chikombedzi up to Malipati. This is going to be implemented by the Department of Roads,” he said.

“The roads have been poor and it’s unfortunate that some of the road administrators such as DDF have no equipment, but still command a certain percentage of roads within the district. This is rather affecting the whole process of rehabilitating the roads.”

Meanwhile, Chiredzi Rural District Council chief executive Mr Isaac Matsilele said they had received $150 000 which was, however, below their anticipated allocation.

Council anticipated Government to establish tarred roads within the district to cut maintenance cost of dusty roads.

“We have about 600km of dusty roads which require maintenance every year,” he said.

“As for this year, we had requested $450 000 from Zinara but they allocated us only $150 000.”

He said Chiredzi was the only district with gravel roads throughout and this means we have to meet route and serious maintenance work every year,” said Mr Matsilele.

He said council acquired road maintenance equipment last year and would want Government to avail more resources.

“We need some key service roads to be tarred. Some of our road authorities are not on the ground and that is rather disturbing the state of uniformity on our roads,” he said.

Mr Matsilele said more resources would complement their efforts in maintaining the roads.