Butiama: Residents of Buturu village in Butiama District, Mara Region have commended the Government for building a bridge that has become a savior for them by reducing maternal deaths and school children being washed away by water due to the presence of a valley on the main road of the village.
The Chairman of Buturu village, Mr. Maningu Kasombi said that before the construction of the Mawe bridge, residents of the village were forced to spend a lot of money on transportation by going around other villages to reach social services and he made it clear that a large percentage of pregnant women were giving birth on the road or at home due to the lack of good road infrastructure.
“The poor condition of the road used to make mothers give birth on the road and sometimes there is no transportation so many were giving birth at home but now we use this road at any time and transportation has become cheaper, unlike the beginning where we used to spend up to 15,000/- to reach Butiama”, said Mr. Maningu.
Despite the challenge of women giving birth on the road, the village was also economically depressed due to the inability to sell their crops on time and leading to a decline in crops, but they are currently praising the Government for the construction of the bridge which has brought comfort to the village and boosted the economy of the people.
The Head Teacher of Buturu Primary School, Mrs. Grace Richard, praises the Government for the construction of the bridge which has increased the attendance of students at the school unlike before where it was necessary for parents and teachers to cross the valley so that they could go to school due to the valley having a lot of water which was contributing to school absenteeism.
Earlier, reading the report on the construction of the Stone Bridge project, the Tarura Manager of Butiama District, Engineer Rashidi Kavandama said that the project has cost 299.26 million shillings and the bridge is 32 meters long and 7.7 meters wide, where this bridge is part of the development projects being built by the Government of the sixth phase through funds from the Road Board Fund.
Engineer Kavandama said the construction of the bridge is 100% complete and the completion of the project has helped citizens easily access social services such as economic and social services such as Health, Education and Business.
The leader of the National Torch Relay, Mr. Ismail Ali Ussi, has launched the bridge which has become an important link for the residents of Buturu village and Chief Wanzangi and said the bridge has brought hope to the people of the area.
“My request to the people of this area is to use this opportunity to take care of this bridge infrastructure so that it can be stronger and used for a longer period”, said Mr. Ussi
he also commended TARURA for using Stone to build the bridge as it has been able to reduce construction costs significantly compared to if they had decided to build it using concrete.
“I congratulate the TARURA office in Mara Region and Butiama District for truly patriots who have decided to build this bridge using stones and it has cost no more than 500 million shillings. This is something to truly commend for their patriotism”, said Mr. Ussi.
