Bubi road rehab progress impressive

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
BUBI Rural District Council in Matabeleland North has become a shining beacon in terms of implementation of Government’s Road Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2) with other local authorities encouraged to emulate it.

Government is implementing Phase II of the ERRP2 which started last year to improve the country’s road network.

The programme started after most roads were declared a state of disaster following incessant rains last year.

The programme is expected to run for three years.

Bubi RDC has already regravelled about 20 percent of the targeted 200km within the district since the end of the rain season.

The local authority has regravelled roads that connect most resettlements to major roads and service points including Gloag High School Road and Nkenyane Road.

Last Friday, a Chronicle news crew observed the regravelling works on Nkenyane Road.

Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for District Development Fund (DDF), Mr Christopher Shumba led a team of technical experts to assess road rehabilitation works in Bubi district.

The team which visited Bubi district after its tour of roads in Tsholotsho where several shortcomings were observed, was full of praise for Bubi RDC for the pace at which it was implementing the roads rehabilitation project.

“The council should continue working at this pace to ensure the entire district’s road network is improved,” said Mr Shumba.

He said local authorities should strive to ensure all communities have access roads so that they are part of the development process.

Mr Shumba said when communities are provided with quality services such as good roads and health facilities among others, they will be motivated to pay rates.

He attributed the good progress in Bubi to the employment of skilled personnel to lead the implementation of the project.

Bubi RDC has an engineer leading the implementation of the works.

“It is a huge investment to employ qualified personnel when it comes to service delivery.

In this case the engineer for this council is well versed with the work at hand.

He knows what he wants to do on each of the roads in the district.

We encourage local authorities to employ such people so that they are not shortchanged when it comes to the utilisation of funds released by Government,” he said.

In attendance was Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Clever Ruswa, who said the personnel employed to implement projects have a bearing on the quality of the product that is produced.

He said there is a need for co-ordination of skills in the implementation of development projects from various Government agencies.

“We are investing a lot of money in some of these major projects hence the need for skilled manpower to undertake the works,” he said.

Bubi RDC Engineer Washington Lunga said his teams were on the ground and were working hard to meet their targets.