Masvingo- Mutare road work suspended

The dualisation of Mutare-Masvingo Road has been temporarily stopped as all the equipment and staff were moved to attend to roads in Chimanimani that were destroyed by Cyclone Idai.

Cyclone Idai, which brought flood water and destruction to areas of Mozambique and Malawi, hit Zimbabwe last Friday, destroying roads, bridges, power and communication infrastructure in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts.

Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development Manicaland provincial road engineer Mr Atherton Zindoga said they had delayed the works to ensure that Chimanimani became accessible.

"Cyclone Idai did not directly affect the works we had already done on the dualisation of the Mutare-Masvingo road but now we are faced with the responsibility of attending to the destructive roads in Chimanimani. We have shifted the equipments we have been using to the cyclone affected area," he said.

Mr Zindoga also said work would not resume until they had assessed the extent of damage in Chimanimani and cleared as many of the access roads as possible.

"It is difficult to make an assumption on when will commence with the dualisation looking at the damage that has been done. Bridges have collapsed and roads are blocked so until we managed to completely cleared out and reconstruct these roads to enable transportation to take place, we will then get back to our work," he said.