MUTARE- The people of Manicaland are hoping that the newly appointed
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck
Mugadza, will help transform the province’s transport infrastructure which
needs urgent attention.
The Minister is no stranger to the province as his lineage and life history
identifies him with four out of the seven districts in Manicaland.
Tracing his roots back to Chipinge district, Minister Mugadza’s life history
migrates to Buhera district where he now calls his rural home.
For the greater part of his adulthood, Minister Mugadza has been a resident of
Mutare serving as a councillor at Mutare City Council and later as legislator for
Mutasa South Constituency.
Being recently elected for as Member of Parliament for Mutasa South, Minister
Mugadza is not new to the political playing field of the province as well as
being well acquainted with the needs of the people in the region.
Having served as legislator for Mutasa South Constituency, Minister Mugadza
has been faced with numerous calls for action on the Christmas Pass by-pass
road to be brought to fruition.
This follows several road traffic accidents involving haulage trucks along the
steep descend of the mountain, which crosses part of Mutasa South, resulting
the beautiful and scenic Christmas Pass periodically turning into to a death trap.
With his recent elevation from representing a constituency to representing the
province, Minister Mugadza has been faced with the mammoth task of bring the
long proposed Christmas Pass project to life.
Addressing government department provincial heads recently in Mutare,
Minister Mugadza said he was looking forward to the supportive hardworking
stakeholders willing to drive the national development agenda assuring the
province that the Christmas Pass by-pass shall come to fruition soon.
“The mission and task ahead of us shall not be easy, given the economic and
social challenges we are looking at as a nation. I am confident of the supportive
stakeholders and competent workforce that we have in Manicaland,” he said.

Minister Mugadza further assured government heads that all was in place and
that the Christmas Pass by-pass project was ready for actioning and a ground
breaking ceremony will soon take place.
Earlier this year, Cabinet announced that plans were afoot to construct a 26 km
Christmas Pass by-pass Road that will serve as an alternative route in and out of
Mutare.
The development is to be implemented through a proposed partnership between
government and a private contractor, Leengate Private Limited.
The by-pass road, which will pass through Feruka on the outskirts of the central
business district was proposed in 1992 for use by haulage trucks.
Minister Mugadza already set himself a track record of action following his
election as legislator during the March 26 by elections, when he grabbed the
seat from the opposition in Mutasa South.
Barely six months down the line, the legislator had completed several life
transforming projects in the constituency paying back the faith with which the
people of Manicaland had given him. Now he wishes to transform the whole
province starting with areas which people have identified as being Important to
them.
Minister Mugadza however called for unity of purpose and hard work among all
stakeholders in the province in order to attain vision 2030.
“There is need for unity among all players in which I reiterate the fact that team
work is crucial and we therefore need to complement each other. In the process
we also need to enhance competitiveness among ourselves to attain the best
results out of innovation as a province,” he added.
The Minister will be faced with several infrastructural development projects for
the province including but not limited to the Christmas Pass by-pass, expansion
and upgrading of Forbes Border Post, rehabilitation of the Murambinda-
Birchenough Road, Flyover and Bluestar Bridge.