Labda wakati huu Wanakusini tuaminishwe ... na hili kuhusu barabara ya Ndundu - Somanga (Govt: Ndundu-Somanga road to be completed next fiscal year)

14th June 2012 Construction of the 60-kilometre road from Ndundu in Coast region to Somanga in Lindi region at tarmac level will be completed next financial year (2012/13), the National Assembly was told here yesterday. Works deputy Minister Gerson Lwenge assured the House when responding to question by Fatuma Abdallah Mikidadi (Special Seats), who wanted to know when construction of the Kibiti-Lindi–Mingoyo road, which she described as long overdue, would be accomplished. The lawmaker also wanted the government to explain the reasons for the overdue delays in the completion of the road, which is the main link of the Southern Corridor. Lwenge told the House that currently 284 kilometers of 344 kilometers have been accomplished and the remained 60 kilometers will do in the next financial year. The deputy minister noted that so far the government had paid the contractor undertaking the construction, M/S Kharafi, a total of 45bn/- and the total cost of the road’s construction was projected at 59bn/-. Lwenge added that it was the sole responsibility of the contractor to make regular repair of the road as well as ensuring that it was passable all the time. Construction of the Kibiti-Lindi highway started in 1974 during Mwalimu Nyerere’s reign. Despite its pivotal role of linking Tanzania and southern African countries, particularly Mozambique and Malawi, the building works had taken almost forty years.. He said it was true that the 60-kilometre-long road had taken a number of years to be completed and inconvenienced the people living and going to southern regions. According to him, already 20 kilometres of tarmac road had been completed. “The government is aware of the problems which people in the southern regions are facing. We are taking measures to make sure that the contractor completes his assignment during the 2012/2013 financial year,” he affirmed. In her basic question, the MP had said that the Kibiti-Lindi road played a crucial role in the development of the Southern Corridor and linked Tanzania with the countries of Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa. She therefore wanted the government to explain when the road’s construction would completed. SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN