10km Tugwi-Mukosi access road complete

A Chinese company has completed the tarring of an access road to Tugwi-Mukosi Dam in a project that chewed more than $7 million and is billed to precipitate inflow of visitors to Zimbabwe’s largest inland water body.

Government awarded the contract to tar the 10km access road to China International Water and Electric Corporation (CIWEC).

Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri last week toured the recently completed road project that is expected to stimulate economic activities at the dam.

In his briefing to Minister Shiri, Zimbabwe National Water Authority acting chief executive Engineer Taurai Maurukira said completion of the road project was a boon for the dam.

“The access road is roughly about 10km long and its tarring will bring more activity to Tugwi-Mukosi Dam which is now easily accessible,” he said.

“We expect to record an increased influx of visitors to the dam which in turn will generate some revenue.”

The state-of-the-art road has already been credited for a spike in the number of visitors mainly from the domestic market to Zimbabwe’s largest inland dam.

Before CIWEC upgraded the Tugwi-Mukosi road it was a nightmare for visitors to access the dam at the confluence of Tugwi and Mukosi rivers in Gororo communal lands at the border of Chivi and Masvingo districts.

Government awarded CIWEC the tender for the road access project because the Chinese company already had equipment in the proximity of the dam, which reduced the mobilisation time hence speedy completion of the project.

The Chinese firm already had a presence in the area having been one of the contractors awarded the tender to build saddle dams in the Zunga area at Tugwi-Mukosi.