Chronicle Editor
Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent
The District Development Fund (DDF) has embarked on a road rehabilitation programme across the country after receiving $400 million from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara).
This comes after Government declared roads across the country a state of disaster as most of those that fall under the DDF are dilapidated having been severely damaged by the heavy rains currently pounding the country.
DDF is in charge of 32 000km of rural road network across the country. DDF teams led by Acting Director Roads, Engineer Goodwell Mapako are on a nationwide tour of projects being undertaken and on Thursday they visited a site in Kwekwe where the Kwekwe-Mvuma Road is being rehabilitated.
Eng Mapako said they were initially targeting sections which were severely damaged. “We have embarked on a massive nationwide road rehabilitation exercise and we are initially targeting those sections which were severely damaged by heavy rains which we received this year. We have moved in swiftly to address challenges that have befallen our road networks,” he said.
He said although the money received from Zinara falls far short of their budget, it would make significant progress.
“Our initial budget was $1,7 billion for the rehabilitation of our 32 000km road network across the country. The money that we have received so far falls far short of what we require but we are grateful and hopeful that very soon we are going to receive more funding from the Government,” said Eng. Mapako. He said they were not going to wait for the rains to stop.
“You find out that we received a lot of rains and our roads have been damaged, bridges have been washed away and some roads are not trafficable. We are therefore targeting those that are in dire need of repairs so that communities are able to travel. We are not going to wait for the rains to stop but whenever we get a chance, we work so that our roads become trafficable,” he said.
Eng Mapako said the rehabilitation of roads was also done in preparation for a bumper harvest.
“We are doing this in preparation of a bumper harvest we are expecting this year as a result of heavy rains received as a country. During this pandemic, we also received vaccines and we want them to reach every part of the country once the distribution starts,” he said.
The rehabilitation, though targeting 1 000 km major roads network in the first phase in every province, will spread to smaller roads.
“In every province we are making sure that at least 1 000km of road are rehabilitated during this first phase. But in the long run we want every kilometer of our 32 000-kilometer network to have been rehabilitated. No road will be left unattended as rains were received in every part of the country,” he said.
Kwekwe District DDF Coordinator, Mr Marvelous Mataga said they were targeting to rehabilitate 35km of the Kwekwe-Mvuma Road which is busy and frequently used by local farmers and miners.
“This is a strategic road for our farmers as we are expecting a bumper harvest this year, we want our farmers to be able to deliver their yield to the Grain Marketing Board and also be able to receive their inputs. We also want the miners to be able to access the Kwekwe CBD for their requirements. Besides, this is also the shortest road linking Kwekwe and Masvingo,” said Eng. Mapako.
“So far we have managed to gravel about 28km of the intended 35km. We are doing this against prevailing weather conditions as at times we are disturbed by the rains but once they stop, we continue with our work so that they can travel safely,” he said. He said in Kwekwe, DDF was targeting to rehabilitate about 597km of road network across the district.
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