Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
THE 66km Gwanda-Maphisa Road remains dilapidated, forcing Government officials and other travellers to drive for 464km via Bulawayo to access the two districts of Matabeleland South province.
Estimates indicate that should this stretch of the road be surfaced, motorists would likely take about 30 minutes drive to the two districts.
Those that end up using the road in its present state have to endure two to three hours of rough driving.
Plans to surface the road, which is regarded the worst in the province, have remained a pipe dream. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development has cleared only 3km of the bush and constructed 1,8km of fill layer.
Provincial Development Co-ordinator, Ms Sthandiwe Ncube, recently made a passionate plea to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube to avail funds for this project.
“We are worried with the bad state of roads in the province and our appeal is for the Government through your office to avail more funds for road projects here. Our biggest worry is the Gwanda to Maphisa road, which is in a very bad state forcing people to travel for more than 400km instead of just 66km,” she said.
The road links Matobo, Mangwe and Bulilima districts and Plumtree town with the provincial capital, Gwanda.
Ms Ncube said the bad state of the road had made travelling for many people very expensive.
She said it was critical for the Government to attend to the road network to boost economic growth.
Matabeleland South has a total of 11 595km of roads and 10 542km of these are gravel roads, which are already in a bad state.
In addition, 1 050km are surfaced and only 53km are regarded as very good.
Online Reporter