Nkayi traditional leader, Chief Dakamela says the district is lagging behind on development due to the poor road infrastructure.
Construction of the road began in 1993, but three decades later, the government has failed to rehabilitate the road with funding shortfalls from the government blamed for the failure to complete the project within agreed timelines.
The road has become a death trap for motorists.
Speaking in an interview on CITE’s current affairs programme The Breakfast Club, Chief Dakamela said they believe that Nkayi has the potential to develop as long as the road infrastructure is spruced up.
“We believe Nkayi has potential to develop, we believe that Nkayi will have a university one day, we believe that Nkayi will have the best schools one day because we also have the best minds in other countries that wish to plough back to the communities,” he said.
“I will give you an example when I say I want to drill a borehole in my home, I will call the drillers and when they come here they will charge me double, its different from when they are using a perfect road.”
He said the rehabilitation of the road which has been neglected for decades is top of the agenda in their development priorities.
“The first priority as Dakamela and Nkayi is the road infrastructure that is our pride because we believe that that the road on its own is the backbone of development, so if our road is in a bad state, it simply means our development will take longer to achieve,” he said.
Chief Dakamela added that vision 2030 will be challenging to achieve as long as the state of the road remains poor.
“As long as we don’t have roads, Nkayi won’t achieve the national objective of vision 2030 of becoming a middle-income economy, so our first priority as Dakamela is to have a road connecting us from Bulawayo to Nkayi and if we are lucky have another one connecting each chief from Nkayi then it will be easier even for the people who want to invest in this place or give us donations,” he said.
He said the improved road will also decrease the prices of goods as villagers are overcharged due to the poor state of roads which affects the transportation of goods.
“Even buses are no longer reaching some areas because they complain of poor roads.’
He also pointed out that there is a need for more water sources as the available dams can no longer hold water for a long period.
