By Sikhulile Dlamini
ZANDONDO – Residents of Zandondo and Dvokolwako Chiefdoms gathered Thursday last week (May 16, 2024) to participate in the official launch of the construction of a new 116-meter-long footbridge, which will cost E920 000.
The bridge is expected to benefit about 3 800 people from the two chiefdoms. The residents of the two communities have been without a bridge for a longtime and have had challenges of crossing and being vulnerable to crocodiles along Black Mbuluzi River. The bridge aims to make it easier for residents of Zandondo to access Dvokolwako and vice versa.
Microprojects and its sister company Engineers in Action (EIA) officially launched the Jolitane Suspended Foot Bridge on Thursday (16 May 2024) in Dvokolwako. The project is expected to start today and is expected to take eight weeks before completion.
Ana Jovanovic, also known as Zinhle Ngozo, who is the project manager and member of the EIA said before they built a bridge, they did a thorough national needs assessment and responded to community needs and further prioritised the communities that were in great need of the bridge, hence this was the fourth bridge that they would build this year.
She further highlighted how hopeful she was in the success of this project and pleaded with the community to be dedicated into this project. She also thanked the community of the participation they had done so far.
“I’ve noticed that there is so much that we need to do but we hope for a speed up in your participation, speed up the process so we can finish the bridge by the 20July 2024,” Jovanovic.
The launch was graced by the authorities of the communities and the Madlangemphisi Constituency. They also promised to see ensure that the project was completed. Zandondo Bucopho Musa Simelane urged the community to work harder to finish the project and that they were grateful to Microprojects.
