Dilapidated Gwanda- Maphisa road needs urgent upgrade

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
THE  66km Gwanda-Maphisa Road remains dilapidated, forcing Government officials and other travellers  to drive for 464km via Bulawayo to access the two districts of Matabeleland South Province.

Estimates indicate that should this stretch of the road be surfaced, motorists would likely take about 30 minutes drive to the two districts.

Those that end up using the road have to endure two to three hours of rough riding.

Plans to surface the road, which is regarded the worst in the province have remained a pipe dream. So far, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development has managed to clear only 3km of the bush and constructed 1,8km of fill layer.

Provincial Development Coordinator, Ms Sthandiwe Ncube, made a passionate plea to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development (Professor Mthuli Ncube) to avail funds to fix the road.

“We are worried with the bad state of roads in the province and our appeal is for the Government through your office to avail more funds for road projects here,” she said.

“Our biggest worry is the Gwanda to Maphisa road, which is in a very bad state and the current scenario where people have to travel for more than 400km rather than travelling for 66 km is not sustainable.

“This is a major road linking Matobo, Mangwe and Bulilima districts and Plumtree Town with the Matabeleland South provincial capital in Gwanda.”

Ms Ncube said the bad state of the road had made travelling for many people very expensive.

She said it was critical for the Government to attend to the road network to steer infrastructure development initiatives.

Matabeleland South has a total of 11 595km of roads and 10 542 of these are gravel earth roads, which are already in bad state.

In addition, only 1050 km are surfaced while 53 km are regarded as very good. The other 988 is reported to be in a good state.

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