Farirai Mutumburanzou
A 10km section of the Shurugwi-Mandamabwe road, which connects Masvingo and Midlands Provinces, has been officially opened to the motoring public, providing improved transportation and connectivity between the two regions.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Honourable Felix Tapiwa Mhona commended the contractor for exceeding expectations and successfully delivering the Shurugwi-Mandamabwe road project before the anticipated completion date.
“The contractor who has been doing this section had promised to work on a 12 month bases but it’s amazing what they had already done. We need this kind of working relationship with our private sector,” he said.
He went on and highlighted the significance of the road as it is will be connecting Masvingo, Midlands other small towns in Zimbabwe.
“The good news to the people of Masvingo and Midlands who are bordering this place is we are taking this road upto ChaCha then towards the Zvishavane Rd up we will go to Poterekwa straight into Gweru where they are connecting, so that when you are coming from Beitbridge Border Post you do not need to go through Harare or Masvingo one can connect from Chegutu, Chinhoyi and then to Chirundu.
“This is an important road in terms of connectivity, it will reduce the distance tremendously in terms of cutting routes. Interms of a economic enabler this is what we are talking about a good road network and it is what makes the economy tick,” he said.
The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Midlands, represented by the the Secretary of the Ministry Mr E Seenza said, “Accordingly the swift implementation of Shurugwi-Mandamabwe road rehabilitation epitomizes the 2nd Republic’s result oriented development philosophy that is modelled along domestic resources mobilization, effective and efficient natural resource utilization, engagement of local contractors and innovation”.
The local people expressed joy in the rehabilitation of the road as it will enable the local community to operate their businesses efficiently and also to cater for Zimbabwe as a whole.
The resident Member of Parliament for Shurugwi South Hon W. Mhuri expressed his joy in this development.
“We are very happy and honoured with this development in our area and the rate at which the contractors speedily finished the project. They started in April and now they are done.
“Quality of this road is very much recommendable and it’s different from the previous one so we are upgrading interms of technology,” he said.
Hon Mhuri added that they had an understanding with the Road Trackers Construction company to employ all the unskilled labour from the community.
“We had an understanding with the contractor that unskilled labour force was supposed to be taken from Shurugwi and now we have more than 70 people employed by the Trackers Company,” he said.
Eng Joy Makumbe Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development gave a detailed technical explanation of the the whole project.
“The scope involves the construction of the 43km and also widening and upgrading of the Road to 8metres width.
“The road during construction was monitored and inspected by a Provincial team because this road is of major concern not only will it have the regular small vehicles that are going to be traveling on this road, we are also going to have the heavy trucks for Beitbridge because this road links Beitbridge to Gweru and from Gweru to Kwekwe, Chinhoyi all the way to Chirundu,” she said.
The Shurugwi-Mhandambwe road total project is 43km, 10km is done and another 10km is set to be opened by the end of July as priming of the road has already been completed.