Residents in Binga continue to face serious transport challenges, with some patients reportedly dying while being transported long distances for medical care due to poor road infrastructure and lack of ambulances.
This emerged in the Senate recently when senator Rebecca Fanuel raised concerns over the state of roads in the district, saying the area appears to be lagging behind despite government commitments that no region should be left behind.
Fanuel questioned why road construction had not begun from the Binga side towards Cross Dete, noting that some sections remain without proper roads.
“Binga is lagging. Why is the minister not instructing one of the contractors to start from Binga going to Cross Dete because there is no road?” she asked.
She said the poor state of roads and the long distance between Binga and Bulawayo were making it difficult to transport critically ill patients.
Fanuel told the Senate that some patients were dying while being ferried to referral hospitals because of the long journeys and poor road conditions.
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She suggested that government consider introducing helicopter services to speed up the transportation of patients in emergencies and also provide more ambulances to the district.
Responding to the concerns, Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Felix Mhona acknowledged the challenges and said government was working on improving the road network linking Karoi, Binga and Cross Dete.
Mhona said the route was an important corridor that could shorten travel distance to Victoria Falls for travellers coming from the north if they passed through Karoi.
“We have identified a contractor that we are going to be working with on a public private partnership basis,” Mhona said.
He said rehabilitation work had already started from the Karoi side using government resources while broader construction plans were being pursued under a public private partnership arrangement.
“We are going to construct the road from Karoi side to Binga and from Binga to Cross Dete,” Mhona said.
The minister added that the government was currently working with rural district councils to ensure some roads in Binga are trafficable while longer-term rehabilitation plans are being implemented.
Mhona acknowledged that many roads had been neglected for years and warned that restoring them would take time.
“Our task is huge but we are coming. No place is going to be left behind,” he said.
Binga remains underdeveloped with critics saying the district suffers systematic marginalisation from ventrally government