News / Regional
Presidential road rehab nears completion
23 Aug 2016 at 07:15hrs | Views
The rehabilitation of the 113km Presidential Lutumba-Tshikwalakwala Road in Beitbridge East constituency, is nearing completion with workers left with the setting up of bridges and culverts, an official has said.
The road had not received attention for the past 30 years and its rehabilitation began in April this year after Government intervened through the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr Joram Gumbo and his State Security counterpart Kembo Mohadi.
The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara), District Development Fund and the Beitbridge Rural District Council are jointly working on the upgrade of the road that is set to improve the movement of grain.
It is understood that 40 percent of the households in the rural part of the district are in need of food assistance.
So far, the Department of Social Services has distributed several tonnes of maize to 30 124 households in 10 wards, while non-governmental organisations and other players have assisted 1 879 people between October last year and August this year.
Beitbridge Rural District Council acting chief executive officer Mr Peter Ncube said grading and gravelling had been completed, adding that engineers had started working on the construction of bridges and culverts.
"This is one of the key roads in the district, which cuts across Beitbridge East Constituency. The road serves as a link to people living in the area with Beitbridge and Chiredzi districts," he said.
"So far, we have completed grading and gravelling the road from Lutumba turn off to Tshikwalakwala area, where Beitbridge links with Chiredzi district."
Mr Ncube said the bad state of the road was affecting monitoring of Government programmes, which included the movement of grain.
He added that the inaccessibility of the road had also worsened transport shortage in the area, while in some cases, private motorists who plied the route were overcharging their passengers.
Mr Ncube added that horticulture farmers living along the road have been facing difficulties in transporting their produce to Beitbridge urban.
"The road also serves nine business centres, two clinics and Chituripasi Police Station and two major irrigation schemes which include: Tshikwalakwala and Tshamaswiswi, across six wards —with an estimated population of over 30 000 people.
"Furthermore it (road), also lies on the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which involves Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa," said Mr Ncube.
He said Zinara was in the midst of mobilising resources for the construction of a bridge over Bubi River, which links Beitbridge and Chiredzi districts.
"The previous bridge was swept away by floods in 2013 and since then, it has not been repaired," he said.
Mr Ncube added that the local authority had received a grant from Zinara, for the gravelling of the 53km Nottingham-Sentinel road in Beitbridge West Constituency.
He said the process was still at an infancy stage.
He added that they had also completed the upgrading of major roads in the area including Ndambe-Masera and Umzingwane-Mtetengwe.
The road had not received attention for the past 30 years and its rehabilitation began in April this year after Government intervened through the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr Joram Gumbo and his State Security counterpart Kembo Mohadi.
The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara), District Development Fund and the Beitbridge Rural District Council are jointly working on the upgrade of the road that is set to improve the movement of grain.
It is understood that 40 percent of the households in the rural part of the district are in need of food assistance.
So far, the Department of Social Services has distributed several tonnes of maize to 30 124 households in 10 wards, while non-governmental organisations and other players have assisted 1 879 people between October last year and August this year.
Beitbridge Rural District Council acting chief executive officer Mr Peter Ncube said grading and gravelling had been completed, adding that engineers had started working on the construction of bridges and culverts.
"This is one of the key roads in the district, which cuts across Beitbridge East Constituency. The road serves as a link to people living in the area with Beitbridge and Chiredzi districts," he said.
"So far, we have completed grading and gravelling the road from Lutumba turn off to Tshikwalakwala area, where Beitbridge links with Chiredzi district."
Mr Ncube said the bad state of the road was affecting monitoring of Government programmes, which included the movement of grain.
Mr Ncube added that horticulture farmers living along the road have been facing difficulties in transporting their produce to Beitbridge urban.
"The road also serves nine business centres, two clinics and Chituripasi Police Station and two major irrigation schemes which include: Tshikwalakwala and Tshamaswiswi, across six wards —with an estimated population of over 30 000 people.
"Furthermore it (road), also lies on the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which involves Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa," said Mr Ncube.
He said Zinara was in the midst of mobilising resources for the construction of a bridge over Bubi River, which links Beitbridge and Chiredzi districts.
"The previous bridge was swept away by floods in 2013 and since then, it has not been repaired," he said.
Mr Ncube added that the local authority had received a grant from Zinara, for the gravelling of the 53km Nottingham-Sentinel road in Beitbridge West Constituency.
He said the process was still at an infancy stage.
He added that they had also completed the upgrading of major roads in the area including Ndambe-Masera and Umzingwane-Mtetengwe.
Source - chronicle
