Chronicle Editor
Sandisiwe Gumbo, Sunday News Reporter
INSIZA District Council (RDC) is working diligently to improve the standards of living of its communities by focusing on the provision of quality infrastructure, social services, and promoting sustainable management of the environment.
In an interview, Insiza RDC chief executive officer, Mr Shepard Tshuma said the council has embarked on a series of road developmental projects to improve infrastructure and boost economic growth in rural areas.
The primary focus of the projects is to rehabilitate and link key commercial farming areas to ensure smooth transportation networks and better access to essential services.
The RDC is working on major roads that include the Skuta-Wanezi Road and the Hilton Road.
The Hilton Road branches off from Mbalabala, connecting to the commercial farms around Montrose and Filabusi areas and is approximately 25km long.
The roads will be linked to the Greystone Road upon completion. This connection aims at facilitating the movement of goods and people between commercial farms and towns as well as improving overall accessibility and trade.
“We want to link the commercial farms around Montrose area towards Greystone area. We will link them towards Filabusi ensuring that the roads are properly gravelled. We have bought a new grader to work in the northern area around Shangani to develop it as a town.
“Shangani is very strategic, it is a centre of mining, commercial farming, excellent transportation, infrastructure networks, communication services and all the networks are accessible around the area and we think it will grow as fast as it can,” said Mr Tshuma.
The RDC is also constructing new schools and health facilities to address the needs of the villagers as well as improving water coverage in the area and upgrading of infrastructure.
“Basically, before the land reform 75 percent of the district was geographically composed of commercial farming area, the land reform reversed that and much of the 75 percent is now resettlement areas particularly under the A1 and A2 schemes.
“The council is building new schools in those areas, we want people to benefit in terms of accessing health services and schools. Our focus for the next five to 10 years is to improve water coverage in those areas,” said the CEO.
“We have some schools like Dekezi and Sabhabha on the southern side, we have enough schools and health centres that we need to improve the infrastructure as some are a century old and need to be refurbished. We are focusing on rehabilitating the existing class rooms and structures,” he said.
Mr Tshuma stated that the local authority has prioritised the rehabilitation of schools that have been damaged by severe storms, with a total of eight schools within the district having undergone restoration to ensure a safe and conducive learning environment for pupils.
“We have also built the Montrose Seven Clinic which has recently opened to the public and right now it is providing services to that community in Ward 17 north of Skuta. We are also planning to build a new clinic in Denje area, the area has just been fenced off and next year we will be building another clinic there,” he said.
The local authority also recently rehabilitated the Silalabuhwa Dam, ensuring a reliable source of water for the surrounding area. The Mahole community has benefited from the provision of a pipe water scheme.
To support the needy, people living with disabilities have been recognised and the RDC aims to provide assistance to a group of about 50 people who are supported by Jairos Jiri’s Garden Project.
“We feel as the local authority we should assist those people access water from underground and solar piped water into their gardens so that they produce for themselves and their families.”
Mr Tshuma further commended the people of Insiza for being highly productive and receptive to development activities as they often contribute their time and resources to support projects, providing free labour when needed.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter