Artisanal Mining Costs Roads Ministry US100,000

Artisanal miners working in the notorious Kitsiyatota gold field recently dug a tunnel across the Bindura – Domboshava Road close to Bindura Country Club resulting in the road falling into the tunnel.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development had to fork out US$ 100,000 to repair the damaged part and its servitude.

Engineer Makokove, the provincial roads engineer said illegal miners from Kitsiyatota strayed to the road and dug a pit underneath.

“The tunnel caused a lot of undercutting to the road to the extent that it then fell in. When that happened we quickly moved together with the Office of the Minister of State and closed the lane that had collapsed and put some road shoulders to afford traffic safe navigation.”

We requested funding through the provincial permanent secretary and got it and found a contractor ( CMED) who did the work since it is a vital road and in anticipation of His Excellency’s visit to the province for Bindura University on Friday.,” said Makokove

In the process of rehabilitating the road, engineers excavated the section which had collapsed to the depth of the tunnel took out all the ore and started backfilling using rock boulders and gravel up to the level of the road.

On Wednesday they had finished all the earthworks and priming. The road opened to traffic Thursday afternoon.