Work on Nkayi-Tsholotsho road to start

THE government will this year start constructing the Nkayi-Tsholotsho road, one of the projects that have been described as a priority in Matabeleland North.

The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Joram Gumbo, told Senators on Thursday that road engineers in Matabeleland North have already been consulted on the construction of the road.

The Minister said this while responding to Bulawayo's MDC-T Senator Agnes Sibanda who wanted to know when the government would start working on roads that link Bulawayo with Nkayi and Tsholotsho.

Gumbo said he would be going to assess the Nkayi-Tsholotsho road after the Easter holidays as part of a programme to assess roads countrywide that he is undertaking.

"The Nkayi-Tsholotsho road is a priority one for Matabeleland North province. It is on the list for those roads that we must attend to this year. We are doing all we can to organise and receive the necessary funds which we have not received – the funds allocated to us during the budget in December, 2015 ,and January this year. So I can assure you that some work is going to be done on that road," said Gumbo.

"The Nkayi-Tsholotsho road is a very important one, we have been talking about it and we are talking to the provincial engineer in that area.

"I was supposed to be going there this weekend to visit that same road that you are talking about but I will be doing that after Easter holidays because now I'm going to Matabeleland South to try and see the state of the roads across the country."

He said heavy rains in some parts of the country had resulted in the state of roads worsening.