Mushandike road rehab to fuel economic activity

Sharon Chimenya, Sunday News Reporter 

FARMERS around Mushandike area in Masvingo have welcomed the initiative by Government under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2) which is improving accessibility of the area through road rehabilitation.

The area encompasses Mushandike irrigation scheme which has more than 500 farmers and supplies the bulk of fresh horticultural produce to Masvingo city.

In an interview last week, Mushandike irrigation scheme chairperson Mr Denhere Bhusvumani said that the development of the roads was welcome as it will also reduce transport cost of the produce.

“The road is a good initiative because when we are transporting our crops, the expenses will now be very low as the road will be tarred.

We are excited by this project as Mushandike irrigation scheme which is the biggest scheme in Masvingo as we are now able to sell our produce on time,” he said.

Another farmer Mr Julius Masiya said that the road used to give them problems especially during the rainy season.

“We used to encounter problems when transporting our produce to the market especially during the rainy season.

Transport costs will be high because most vehicles would fail to navigate, we even ended up resorting to using scotch carts.

During the rainy season because rivers would be flooded people would go round to Mashava to come here at Bhuka Shopping centre and round back.

“So we are happy with the construction of the road and we plead with Government to complete the road works before the onset of the rains,” he said.

Engineer Shadreck Kativhu who was representing the Masvingo Provincial Roads Engineer said that construction of the Bhuka-Mashava road was going to assist the local community.

“This is the Bhuka-Mashava road and we have given to Tensor Systems a 10 km stretch.

It is a $5,2 million road which will service between Bhuka and Mashava.

We have the irrigation community who will benefit from the construction of this road.

“There are also some small scale miners along the way, schools, and some business people and they are actually going to benefit from this road.

There is also going to be a bus that will ply this road,” he said.