Inadequate funding humpers DDF operations

cannot carry out basic tasks like routine road maintenance, a Government official has said.
DDF Mashonaland East area roads manager, Mr Clement Chiunye, said this during a tour of Murewa District last week.
Mr Chiunye said DDF, which had lost a lot of multilateral funding since the imposition of illegal sanctions by the West about a decade ago, now relied largely on money from the Zimbabwe National Road Authority for elementary maintenance work.
He said the DDF was also struggling to undertake water and sanitation programmes because most machinery and equipment were down due to spares shortages attributable to the sanctions.
“The funding we are getting from the road fund, which is our only source, is inadequate to cater for our needs,” said Mr Chimunye.
He said 10 000 litres of fuel had recently been provided for Mashonaland East for gravel road maintenance but this allocation fell short of requirements.
DDF’s road network covers 3 724km in Mashonaland East, with 420km in Murewa District.
It has so far graded 160km in Murewa and 687km in the entire province.
The Murewa area that have been graded include St Phillips-Chemapango, Kadzere-Musami and Mutimbanyoka-Muhume roads.
Mr Chiunye thanked those communities in Murewa that had voluntarily extended help to the DDF in road rehabilitation and gully reclamation.
Murewa ward 14 councillor Godfrey Madziwa said the road improvements had made it easier for constituents to access Murewa and Musami hospitals.
“Our people had been cut-off from Murewa and Musami because of poor road network,” said Cllr Madziwa.