Staff Reporter
People in Chimanimani have welcomed the opening of the Jopa to Kopa road, which was recently commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Speaking on the side-lines of the commissioning, Chimanimani East legislator Joshua Sacco, commended the President for assisting the people of Chimanimani to rebuild their lives after Cyclone Idai.
“As you may all know, we he had the misfortune of Cyclone Idai here in Chimanimani, in the year 2019. The Cyclone destroyed people’s lives, livelihoods and infrastructure (Roads, Bridges, Schools etc), but we witnessed the Government of Zimbabwe led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, standing with the people of Chimanimani in the reconstruction process over the past 2 years.
“Today (yesterday) is a big day for the people of Chimanimani, as people celebrate the development that has been done in our Constituency. A road from Kopa to Jopa with a length of 23 kms was tarred by the Government of Zimbabwe and is being commissioned by the President, in-line with the theme build back better ‘Kugadzira zviripo kuti zvinge zvakanaka kudarika zvayivapo kusati kwayita Cyclone’,” said Sacco.
Explaining the significance of the road and its impact to the people of Chimanimani East, Sacco said, “Farmers in Kopa are excited because we had become a farmer’s market instead of a buyer’s market, farmers are now able to sell their fruits to those with better prices. Previously we had fruits such as pineapples and mangoes which ripen during the rainy season going bad due to fact that the Kopa to Jopa road was impassable. Farmers could also not take their produce to the markets due to the state of the roads, resulting in buyers that could access the road determining the price for the produce instead of the farmers”.
Sacco further revealed plans for the export program that is in the pipeline due to the tarred road, which will enable them to transport their produce without experiencing losses in their produce.
“We have an initiative as a community of exporting our organic produce to the Netherlands, and due to the completed road, we are positive of a smooth process that will ensure our products are exported in their fresh state”.
Sacco also thanked the President for walking with the people of Chimanimani and for sticking to his promise of improving people’s lives in their community. He said, “We want to thank President Mnangagwa for remembering our plight even though the country was battling a COVID-19 pandemic that did not stop developmental projects in Chimanimani. We saw that money went to buy some vaccines, at the same time proceeded with construction of this road making sure that Bitumen world was being paid for its job until the completion of this road.”
Meanwhile, Sacco revealed that DDF was working on one of the most affected roads by Cyclone Idai, that which connected Kopa and Vimba. He commended Government through the Ministry of Transport for commencing the rehabilitation of the road.
