Community joins hands to fix damaged roads

Conrad Mupesa

Mashonaland West Bureau

Truckers are reluctant to tackle the badly damaged roads in Zvimba district and farmers away from the main highways are finding it difficult to find a respectable transport operator willing to penetrate the more remote farms to move their harvest to the Grain Marketing Board depots.

But the entire community in the ward is now working together to do something about this since everyone wants and needs a decent road to do business.

The good rains in the last season along with the major upgrade in Government input schemes saw a bumper harvest that will see Zimbabwean farmers feeding the country and getting paid for it. But the same heavy rains have damaged roads across the country, and while the Government has declared all the roads a state of disaster, the repairs cannot be done instantly everywhere.

So Zvimba North MP and Local Government Deputy Minister, Cde Marrian Chombo, has since taken action and to help the Department of Roads, District Development Fund (DDF), Zvimba Rural District Council, she has brought in commercial farmers, gold and chrome mining firms on board to fix the roads in her constituency as quickly as possible.

“Farmers are finding it hard in delivering grain to GMB. This, apart from bad roads, has been necessitated by transporters shunning some of the routes.”

Deputy Minister Chombo said her help to co-ordinate the joint effort seeks to complement the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme instituted by the Government.

“We have partnered with many stakeholders to repair our roads. Various players are providing graders, fuel and other services so that our roads are passable. We have Mr Mashwede assisting in the regrading of Guruve-Raffingora-Banket road. He has assisted with a grader, driver and fuel,” she said.

Commercial farmers led by a Mr Stoddart, are fixing the Makonde-Raffingora-Matura road.

The Zvimba RDC grader was down and Mr Stoddart has hired one, and is also providing fuel and repairs.

Pan-African Mine, also known as Muriel Mine, has pledged to rehabilitate all roads in Ward 15 as corporate social responsibility, since they operate in the area. The company is also drilling boreholes, runs a successful school and clinic, and provides monthly hampers for chiefs and headman, among others.

Ward 15 councillor, Mr Sandram Kembo, praised the company for rehabilitating roads. The development will allow swift movement of grain from those he represents to GMB.

Other companies are also fixing roads in Ward 13 and Ward 18.