: Residents of the Choongo community in the Manyinga District of North Western Province have expressed gratitude){kind=link}
North West (Manyinga): Residents of the Choongo community in the Manyinga District of North Western Province have expressed gratitude to the government for the construction of the Choongo Bridge using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
The community says they are grateful to the government for constructing what they say is a safe crossing point in the area.
It feels the development will help in curbing previous cases of drowning children, especially while accessing the crossing point.
Media reports that Paul Fulela, a resident and teacher at Choongo Primary School, in an interview, disclosed that historically, pupils had to swim through the stream to access their learning facility, which was a threat to their lives.
‘‘Choongo stream claimed the lives of our little children who could not manage to swim to make their way to school, and because of such challenges, the area would be completely cut off from the rest of the communities.
“Now, this is an issue of the past because our government has come to our aid and constructed a bridge which has made our mobility smooth. As a community, we are delighted,’’ Fuller said.
‘‘We are thankful to the government for this development in our community. The construction of this bridge has brought so much relief to the local community members, especially those using motorcycles……We are appealing to the government to consider constructing a health facility through CDF in our community to help us have easy access to quality health care services,’’ he said.
Manyinga District Commissioner Brenda Mukwakwa revealed that the bridge is a link between Manyinga town and the Choongo farm block, situated about 15 kilometres from the central business district.
Ministry of Information and Media Director Spokesperson Henry Kapata reaffirmed the government’s commitment towards constructing safe crossing points in all communities lacking bridges.
‘‘Infrastructural development is one of the government priorities on its agenda, and as such, we will continue to strive hard to ensure development reaches the rural communities,’’ said Kapata.
He added that the development will promote inclusiveness and value addition as it will ease mobility and create opportunities for economic growth.