BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Inyatsi Group has delivered the first-world Nhlangano-Sicunusa road and the infrastructure is now open for the public to use.
The Inyatsi Group, through its subsidiary company, the Inyatsi Construction company, delivered this road today during a press conference held at Hilton Garden Inn, Mbabane. The delivery of the road was done by Inyatsi Group CEO Derrick Shiba.
He was not alone, as he was with the management from some of Inyatsi Group’s subsidiary companies. They included Sandile Mhlanga (Managing Director, Inyatsi Construction), Phindile Matsebula (Chief People and Culture Officer, Inyatsi Group), Paul Lwiindi (Inyatsi Group Investment Executive), Dr Thokozani Nkambule (Lidwala Insurance Company CEO), and Jabu Shabangu (Maloma Colliery CEO).
All the managers were involved in delivering this project, which was worth E647 million. The road is 42 kilometres, in terms of its distance. It has three traffic circles and two bridges, which are Mkhondvo (150 metres long) and Ndlotane (70 metres long). The road also has a bus rank at textile factories, such as Zheng Yong, FTM, and Hoes, to service over 5 000 directly employed people and another 2 500 on completion of Johnson factory.
The road services three border posts, including Sicunusa, Gege, and Mahamba. The road also has the Siyendle service road, leading to Magubheleni Clinic. The road has a cut journey time by at least one hour and creates viable option for travel to Nhlangano from north of the country. It also provides a scenic route to some of the best natural habitats that the country has to offer.
Inyatsi recruited people from chiefdoms such as Mgazini, Nsukazi, KaMzizi, Mlindazwe, Tsambekwako, Mashobeni, and Simemeni. Over 800 people were directly employed by the project, providing a positive livelihood to over 8 000 people. Over 50 local sub-contractors, who employed an average of 30 local people, were engaged.
Over 1 000 local suppliers benefitted from the project and a number of business opportunities were created as a result of this project. The project was done through the public-private partnership (PPP) and Inyatsi financed the project, in form of a loan to Government.
