Concern over Nkayi-Bulawayo Road contractors

VILLAGERS and businesspeople in Nkayi, Matabeleland North province, have raised concern over the capacity of companies contracted to work on the Nkayi-Bulawayo Road.

Of major concern is that the companies contracted to work on the road are taking too long to complete the project.

Construction of the 158km road linking Bulawayo and Nkayi Centre started in 1993 and was supposed to be completed by 1999, but not much progress has been realised to date.

The road construction is currently being done by SX Construction (Pvt) Ltd.

The concerns were raised on Saturday during a virtual discussion on the evaluation of the Nkayi-Bulawayo Road construction conducted by Nkayi Community Parliament.

Nkayi businessman and philanthropist Arthur Moyo and former Nkayi legislator Abednicho Bhebhe were guest speakers during the discussion.

"If we want to see development or investment in Nkayi, we need to have a clean road. I do not know the name of the company. There are good companies known for road construction and could have done a better job," Bhebhe said.

The road was supposed to be completed in six years, but is still far from being complete 23 years on.

Moyo said it was quite curious that all the major projects in the province such as Ziminya Dam, Vunku and the road had all been contracted to companies from Harare.

The Transport and Infrastructural Development ministry recently contracted SX Construction (Pvt) Ltd to rehabilitate 14km of the Nkayi-Bulawayo Road under the government-funded Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 (ERRP2).

The Zimbabwe National Road Administration distributed nearly $6 billion to all provinces and local authorities for road maintenance in the first quarter of this year under the ERRP2.

Nkayi villagers recently expressed concerns that the company contracted to work on the road had since left, citing government's failure to meet its side of the bargain.