News / National
Road accidents worry Zaka MP
10 Oct 2015 at 09:37hrs | Views
Zaka MP Paradza Chakona has expressed his worry over the escalation of accidents along Beitbridge-Chirundu Road saying it is by the grace of God that some people are still alive.
Speaking in parliament, Chikona said there is the Beitbridge-Chirundu road, which has been on the cards for a long time.
"I am glad that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development responsible for roads is in this House. On a weekly basis, as we drive to Masvingo, we see and experience a lot of accidents and it is by the grace of the Lord that none of the Members of Parliament has actually been involved in an accident over the past three years that we have been coming here," he said. "However, I would like to over-emphasise that the dualisation of this road Mr. Speaker Sir, is a must and it is actually way behind schedule."
He also noted that whilst ZINARA is doing a sterling job in disbursing money for road maintenance to rural district councils, citing as an example our own rural district council, we have a total of about
"140 000 kilometres of dirty road in my constituency. When I calculated the diesel that is required to grade those kilometres, it comes to 7 500 litres. When you translate that in momentary terms, it works out to slightly above $8 000. So far, our rural district council has received $48 000 from ZINARA," he said.
"If I divide this by four constituencies in our district, it works to $12 000 per constituency. I want to tell you Mr. Speaker that half, if not less than a quarter of that money, has actually been disbursed towards road maintenance. In that regard, I am calling upon ZINARA to look for a better way of actually dealing with road maintenance, instead of giving that money to rural district councils because I believe they are not putting that money to good use and I think there is a better way of doing it."
Speaking in parliament, Chikona said there is the Beitbridge-Chirundu road, which has been on the cards for a long time.
"I am glad that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development responsible for roads is in this House. On a weekly basis, as we drive to Masvingo, we see and experience a lot of accidents and it is by the grace of the Lord that none of the Members of Parliament has actually been involved in an accident over the past three years that we have been coming here," he said. "However, I would like to over-emphasise that the dualisation of this road Mr. Speaker Sir, is a must and it is actually way behind schedule."
"140 000 kilometres of dirty road in my constituency. When I calculated the diesel that is required to grade those kilometres, it comes to 7 500 litres. When you translate that in momentary terms, it works out to slightly above $8 000. So far, our rural district council has received $48 000 from ZINARA," he said.
"If I divide this by four constituencies in our district, it works to $12 000 per constituency. I want to tell you Mr. Speaker that half, if not less than a quarter of that money, has actually been disbursed towards road maintenance. In that regard, I am calling upon ZINARA to look for a better way of actually dealing with road maintenance, instead of giving that money to rural district councils because I believe they are not putting that money to good use and I think there is a better way of doing it."
Source - Byo24News
