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Luthando Mapepa
Post Correspondent
AT least 420 households from Shinja Village under Chief Mutambara in Chimanimani will benefit from the 78-metres footbridge which was recently commissioned.
Villagers from Shinja were facing challenges to cross Nyanyadzi River during the rainy season after a bridge linking the community was swept away by recurrent cyclones in the district.
The new footbridge is strategic to the Shinja community as it links them to their nearest health facility, schools and irrigation scheme.
A development partner, Practical Action in partnership with Chimanimani Rural District Council funded the construction of the bridge.
Speaking during the commissioning of Shinja Community Footbridge last week, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck Mugadza said the footbridge will address various challenges that were being faced by the community.
“As Government, we are grateful that our partnership with development partners such as Practical Action has yield tangible fruits as evidenced by the Shinja Community Bridge.
“The bridge will address challenges that the community were facing such as no access to health facility, no safe crossing and no access to schools especially during the rainy season,” he said.
Minister Mugadza said the new footbridge comes at the right time when Government has put up a massive irrigation in Shinja.
“We are also happy by what Government did for the community by establishing an irrigation scheme on the other side of the river where we have over 100 hectares under irrigation. This is benefiting hundreds of farmers. “Before this footbridge was constructed, most villagers were finding it difficult to cross the river to access their plots.
“Challenges to cross Nyanyadzi River are now a thing of the past, and we hope this footbridge will ensure that all farmers at the irrigation scheme can easily transport their produce to the market,” he added.
Speaking during the same occasion, Acting Chief Mutambara thanked Government and development partners for economically empowering the Chimanimani community.
“As traditional leaders, we want to thank Government and its partners for helping Chimanimani District to recover from infrastructure damages caused by different cyclones,” said Acting Chief Mutambara.
Online Reporter