admin
Precious Manomano Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe has made a remarkable progress in upgrading highways, a major milestone of development and economic growth towards vision 2030, a church bishop has said.
Infrastructure development is moving at a fast pace in Zimbabwe, with observers noting its major role in moving forward the development agenda.
No area is being left behind as the development is taking place in all sectors like road upgrading and rehabilitation, aviation and border posts upgrade.
Zimbabwe Christian Ministers Association (ZCMA) Bishop Christopher Choto said the New Dispensation led by President Mnangagwa has since made its intention clear when it comes to road infrastructure development.
“Remarkable progress has since been made in the upgrading of the highway. The Second Republic undertook to embark on road infrastructural development as one of the key enablers to spur socio-economic growth towards Vision 2030 with rehabilitation and upgrading of the roads.
“We are happy with developments that are taking place in our country. Government is doing well in this regard but at the same time we should not speed. If you take Beitbridge road, there is very great improvement so let’s celebrate the developments that are taking place in our country,” Bishop Choto said
Bishop Choto urged motorists to drive without the influence of alcohol and drugs to avoid deaths during the festive season.
“We have lost our loved ones for the past two years due to Covid-19. We cannot continue losing our beloved ones due to reckless driving,” he said.
ZCMA is a national ministerial body of church ministers which equip and empower ministers to be more effective in their calling.
Under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), the Government committed itself to spur infrastructure development, supported by the private sector.
The NDS1 is the Government’s current five-year economic management master plan up to 2025, which has a strong focus on building, expanding and restoring infrastructure.
Through the strategy, the Government is targeting to increase the road network that meets the Southern Africa Transport and Communications Commission (SATCC) standards from five percent to 10 percent and to increase the number of kilometres of road network in good condition from 14 702km to 24500km by 2025.
According to NDS1, for the national rail system, the target under the five-year development plan is to increase the proportion of track meeting set standards (Track Quality Index) from 57 percent in 2020 to 68 percent by 2025.
In the 2021 budget, Minister Ncube, said a total of $139,8 billion will be spent on this year’s infrastructure investment programmes, which include roads, dams, housing and public buildings.
Online Reporter