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Luthando Mapepa
Chipinge Correspondent
GOVERNMENT is refurbishing roads linking the country with neighbouring countries into commercial trafficable roads, Transport and Infrastructure Development Deputy Minister Mike Madiro has said.
Speaking during a tour of Mount Selinda Border Post on Tuesday, Deputy Minister Madiro said the country is losing revenue due to the poor state of the roads linking with some of the country’s borders.
“When I visited Mount Selinda Border Post, I was surprised by the state of the road from the border to Chipinge Town.
“The road is in bad shape and there is a difference with our Mozambican neighbours’ road. They have established a state-of-the-art road to their border, but from our side there is virtually no road to talk about.
“This is forcing transporters to shun us and choose other routes. The Mount Selinda-Chipinge Road is a key route to the country due to its proximity to the Sea Port of Beira,” he said.
Deputy Minister Madiro said Government has set aside funds to refurbish other roads linking small border posts in Manicaland under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP 3).
“Under EPPR 3, funds have been availed to cover refurbishment of 30km of the road. I will make sure that the remaining 10km will also be covered
“We need to connect Nyanga, Vumba and Cashel border areas to boost our economy. Tourists from Mozambique want to come to Zimbabwe, but they cannot do so due to the poor state of the roads at our small border posts,” said Deputy Minister Madiro.
Manicaland provincial construction officer, Engineer Patrick Muropo said Government has budgeted $540 million for the refurbishment of the Mount Selinda-Chipinge Road under the ERRP 3 programme.
“We have a total of $540m meant to cover three quarters of the 40km Mount Selinda-Chipinge Road.
“We want to upgrade the road to decongest Forbes Border Post as some of the trucks will use this route. The road will become trafficable for heavy vehicles,” said Engineer Muropo.
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