Chivi RDC praises ZNA major for road maintenance efforts

Kennedy Murwira

Chivi – A Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) major stationed at the army General Headquarters in Harare has earned himself praise from Chivi Rural District Council (CRDC) for his efforts in road maintenance in the district.

This was revealed by Chivi Rural District Council Chief Executive Officer, Tariro Matavire in an interview with TellZim News last week.

“Major Mahapa frequently used the Chivi-Chomuruvati road on his way home in the Run’ai area and discovered that the road was in bad shape so he decided to act.

“He brought a grader and provided food for its operators while negotiating for their accommodation on the way. He also bought the fuel used by the grader,” Matavire said.

He said council has since applied to the Zimbabwe National Roads Authority (ZINARA) for the change of use of funds earmarked for other projects to improve roads.

“We then took over from where major Mahapa had left. We have now put most of the road under the grader and we have also embarked on maintenance of other roads. 

“To date we have put close to 100 kilometres under the grader with resources for other roads coming from funds we generate. The exercise is ongoing and resources will only be the limit.

“All our major roads are now passable and the same can be said for our secondary roads. We have done about 70 percent of what needs to be done and hope to complete the outstanding 30 percent soon,” Matavire said.

He said council had since bought a new dump truck and tractor for use in the application of gravel.

“We hope putting new gravel on our roads will lengthen their lifespan and give us a chance to direct resources to other projects,” he said.

He said the rural council had accepted public-private partnerships in the implementation of development projects and had already undertaken the maintenance of the Maringire-Berejena road in partnership with the Masvingo Development Association.

Another partnership with Murowa Diamonds for the maintenance of Davira-Chikofa-Gwitima is also bearing fruit.

“We had to pull the grader off this road after it broke down and spent more than two months before it was repaired. After it was repaired we diverted the grader to other roads where we were using ZINARA funds.

“Delays in the completion of these projects would have meant a delay in future disbursements of ZINARA funds,” said Matavire.

Matavire said they had prioritised road maintenance without giving regard to whether a road had to be serviced either by the council or the District Development Fund (DDF).news