By Vumani Mthiyane
Umzingwane Rural District Council (URDC) will channel its devolution fund disbursement to rehabilitate its dilapidated road network.
The local authority received ZWL$1.2 million.
Speaking to CITE, URDC chairperson and ward 4 Councillor Jetro Moyo said their road network is in need of urgent attention.
“Our road network is very pathetic and is derailing district development and province at large. We received ZWL$1.2 million in devolution funds for the year ending 2020 and we prioritised the road network after doing our budget consultations,” he said.
Cllr Moyo also revealed that some of the projects for the period 2019 – 2020 have been implemented while some of the outstanding projects will be shelved and priority will be given to road rehabilitation project.
“Following the consistent breakdowns of the grader which I believe has outlived its lifespan we agreed and managed to buy a tipper truck, tractor and a trailer specifically for road rehabilitation. Beside roads we also managed to complete the Shale clinic, installation of Habane tower light and construction of a landfill,” said the chairperson Cllr Moyo.
Cllr Moyo added that there are plans of developing Esigodini so that it attains town status.
A source privy to council management plans told CITE that they had been spending a huge chunk of the budget in outsourcing equipment for road maintenance hence they arrived at a decision to invest in their own equipment.
“We were spending a lot of money in hiring road equipment hence we saw it fit to first improve our capacity as a council,” said the source.
