300 tractors to speed up rural roads rehab

Rural roads are set for a major facelift in line with Vision 2030 after President Mnangagwa secured 300 Belarus tractors to boost the capacity of the Rural Infrastructural Development Agency (RIDA) to maintain gravel and earth roads for the speedy movement of goods and people.

The President's involvement to increase RIDA's fleet complements the Second Republic's efforts to foster rural industrialization by building roads and other infrastructure, which are vital facilitators of socioeconomic progress.

Under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP), which is part of the National Development Strategy (NDS 1), RIDA has played a key role in maintaining and improving rural roads. This initiative is helping the nation move closer to its 2030 goal of becoming an upper middle-class society.

President Mnangagwa has procured 300 tractors from Belarus, according to Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Lovemore Matuke of the Office of the President and Cabinet, in an effort to expedite the nation's road rehabilitation.

The Second Republic's motto of leaving no one behind includes road repairs in rural areas.

Given that the majority of our population lives in rural areas, "President Mnangagwa sourced 300 tractors from Belarus for RIDA to upgrade and maintain the road network in rural areas where the roads are mainly gravel and earth and need to be constantly attended to so that they are always in good shape and are trafficable," Minister Matuke stated.

"These rural roads must be in good condition because they connect our rural residents to the nation's major cities and towns, where they frequently travel to obtain services that are unavailable in their area. To strengthen RIDA's ability to maintain rural roads, the President was able to get some tractors from Belarus in keeping with the principle of never leaving anyone or any area behind.

The provinces are receiving the tractors, which are currently in the process of being delivered.

Minister Matuke commended President Mnangagwa for his efforts to turn Zimbabwe into an upper middle-class society by 2030, citing his own actions as evidence of his commitment to this goal.

The effort to upgrade rural roads demonstrates how important rural residents are to the national development matrix.

RIDA is responsible for managing more than 31,000 km of Zimbabwe's 78,200 km of earth and gravel rural roads. This makes the department a major participant in the country's efforts to upgrade the road network and promote socio-economic development by facilitating faster movement of people and products.

Along the majority of the gravel and earth roads in the nation, RIDA has also been in the forefront of building bridges, which have made it possible for villages that were previously divided from other provinces to freely travel to other places, markets, clinics, and schools. In addition to overseeing the rural road system, RIDA has been enhancing rural residents' quality of life by excavating and mending boreholes.