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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau
Good progress has been recorded in the upgrade of the 21 km stretch of road linking Kopa business centre in Chimanimani and Jopa, with work expected to be complete in the next four months.
The road is the gateway to the Rusitu Valley, where fruit and vegetable production sustains thousands of families.
Work on the road, which has been on the cards for years, started last month and is expected to transform the economy of Chimanimani District.
The 21km long and 7-metre wide road is being tarred by Bitumen World.
Bitumen World site manager Mr Cuthbert Gonhovi said they had done a lot of work in almost four weeks since commencement of the project and were optimistic of meeting the set deadlines.
He said widening of the road and insertion of culverts was in progress and they had already cleared 16km and road formation was now at 8km.
“We have started importing gravel and laying a thin layer of gravel to ensure that motorists can continue to use the road as we work. We have so far laid 4km of thin gravel,” he said.
He said the Kopa-Jopa road has a lot of swampy areas and this has called for them to move quickly to put in culverts, taking advantage of the dry season.
“We have put in six culverts on sections where we have done a thin layer of gravel because we do not want water to affect the ground that has been compacted, so when the rain comes, it will flow through the culverts and not affect the road,” he said.
Mr Gonhovi said the terrain in Rusitu did not allow for the creation of a detour route, hence they were working on small sections of the road at a time.
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development provincial road engineer Atherton Zindoga said work on the road was on target to meet deadlines.
“The contractor is on site and has done the sub grade construction. The 21km will definitely be complete within the next four months because the works are moving at a good pace,” he said.
Online Reporter