Gwanda-Maphisa Road rehab begins

Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Mat South Bureau Chief
THE long-awaited rehabilitation of the Gwanda-Maphisa Road in Matabeleland South has begun.

The 66km stretch is a major road linking Plumtree town, Matobo, Mangwe and Bulilima districts with the Matabeleland South provincial capital, Gwanda.

Many had to travel 464km via Bulawayo to access Mangwe and Bulilima districts from Gwanda as the road was difficult to navigate.

The road will be surfaced in phases with the first phase of the rehabilitation of a 10km stretch costing $2,8 million.

Matabeleland South provincial roads engineer Mangisi Nkomo said about four kilometres of the road had already been surfaced.

“The rehabilitation of the Gwanda-Maphisa Road will be done in phases starting with a 10km stretch. We gave the tender to a contractor and they’ve so far surfaced at least four kilometres from that road. Due to budgetary constraints, we can’t rehabilitate the entire road at once. We’ve got 10 provinces, and within the province there are other projects that we want to do so we’ll be doing at least 10km of each road at certain intervals,” said Eng Nkomo.

He said other major road works include the rehabilitation of the Bulawayo-Kezi Road.

“Last week we handed over the site to Drawcard Construction for the construction of 15km of the Bulawayo-Kezi Road. It’s a design and construct project so we’ve handed over the site to the contractor. The road will be rehabilitated from the 45km peg to the 60km peg where there is a narrow stretch,” said Eng Nkomo.

He continued: “We’ll also be rehabilitating the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road but that one is currently at the tendering stage.

Rehabilitation will be from the 266km peg to the 276km peg. Five kilometres of the West Nicholson-Mberengwa Road will also be surfaced. The road goes from West Nicholson to Avoca, Filabusi,” said Eng Nkomo.

The Guyu-Manama Road is also under construction with a 4,3km stretch set to be surfaced.

Last week, a Chronicle news crew observed construction workers in Manama grading part of the road ahead of its surfacing.

“Construction of the Guyu-Manama Road has already started and work is in progress. It’ll be a 4,3km stretch from the shops at Manama to Thuli bridge,” said Eng Nkomo. — @Yolisswa