Bubi RDC hires locals for road rehab

Source: Bubi RDC hires locals for road rehab – NewsDay Zimbabwe

BY NIZBERT MOYO

Bubi Rural District Council in Matabeleland North province has started a road rehabilitation exercise and has employed 600 locals for the work.

Bubi chief executive Partson Mlilo told Southern Eye that the government has also allocated $29 million towards the project.

“We have engaged 600 locals to do bush clearance after our roads were turned into rivers by the rains that fell in the
country.

“We think the move will also enhance economic activities in the district,’’ said Mlilo adding that they are looking at repairing 450 kilometres of road.

He said the government this month allocated $29 million to the council for the project and that the local authority had resolved to hire the needed equipment because it could not afford to buy new machinery.

“We are appealing to our stakeholders who include mining companies and farmers to support use under their corporate social responsibility programmes,’’ he said.

However, this is coming on the backdrop of the government having said that the construction of the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road has again been put on hold after funds allocated for the project in the 2021 budget were diverted.

Transport and Infrastructural Development deputy minister Mike Madiro reportedly told parliamentarians on Tuesday that the Nkayi Road construction project had been put on hold as funds have been reallocated elsewhere.

The project has been moving at a slow pace so much that in 2015 and 2017 only 3km and 1,5km stretches of the road were upgraded, respectively.