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Brighton Gumbo, Business Reporter
TRANSPORT and Infrastructural Development Minister Joram Gumbo arrives in Bulawayo tomorrow to assess the state of roads and ascertain areas that require urgent attention in the Matabeleland region.

Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) public relations officer Joyce Muzanenhamo yesterday said the minister’s tour was part of the countrywide road assessment to find out the kind of assistance required.

“The minister is coming to Bulawayo on Friday morning to assess the state of the roads in Matabeleland region. He will engage with the rural district councils and local authorities who’re going to present their roads situation to him,” she said.

Muzanenhamo said the minister had already covered Mashonaland Central where he toured the Bindura-Matepatepa and Shamva-Bindura roads in the company of the Zinara board chairman Albert Mugabe and acting chief executive Engineer Moses Juma.

“The minister has so far covered the following areas; Bindura, Mutare, Masvingo, Shamva and today (yesterday) he will be in Marondera,” she said.
Road infrastructure development is at the heart of the government’s economic blue-print, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset).

In 2013, the country launched the National Transport Policy to co-ordinate the development of road infrastructure as government courts investors for the dualisation of other major trunk roads.

The National Transport Policy was crafted to address the challenges facing the transport and communications sector in Zimbabwe. Recently, Zimbabwe received funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the development of a national transport master plan.