This photograph (above) shows part of the village of
Butiama, approached from the north on the old
Musoma –
Mwanza road. This used to be quite a busy road before the bitumen surfaced road (photos, below) was built between 1977 and 1983 and traffic moved to the better road. It used to take the entire day to drive from
Mwanza to
Musoma.
 |
| The old road to Mwanza |
Italian contractors
Lanari Sogesca Estero built the 93-kilometre stretch from
Musoma to
Nyanguge. After completion, the part between
Nyanguge and
Mwanza still had some tarmac left over from past works. However, it deteriorated considerably in the 1990s and was resurfaced again a few years ago and has since contributed to several fatal accidents. Today, it takes about 3 hours by bus between
Mwanza and
Musoma.
The Mwanza - Musoma road near the village of Sabasaba
It is amazing how roads can transform the activities of an area. A few years ago the government resurfaced the 11-kilometre road linking the village of
Butiama with the main
Mwanza –
Musoma road at Kiabakari and most of the motorists who were using the old
Butiama to
Musoma road changed routes and began driving to
Musoma through Kiabakari. Now the old road has only a few passenger vehicles (
daladala) plying through between the village of
Nyamuswa and
Musoma.
A bus on the Mwanza - Musoma road. The contractors widened the old road, but forgot to widen this bridge. Trucks and buses normally yield to allow oncoming traffic to avoid a possible collision.
The
Butiama to Kiabakari road has become extremely busy and has even produced some small-scale mining activity at a particular spot which has been named "
machimbo" (mines). Construction of houses has also stepped up along the way.
Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-road-to-musoma-is-excellent.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-version-of-year-2011-in-review-8.html
A bus on the Mwanza - Musoma road. The contractors widened the old road, but forgot to widen this bridge. Trucks and buses normally yield to allow oncoming traffic to avoid a possible collision.
2 comments:
did you mean the new tarmac road joining Butiama to Mwanza - Musona road at Kiabakari or Makutano?? I have not been there (Kiabakari)for almoost six years, but still I have not lost contact with home, I axactly know that both the 11 kms and the machimbo area relate to Kiabakari - Butiama tarmac road, and not Makutano - Butiama road.
After all I am not sure whether there is any tarmac road between Makutano and Butiama.
Out of that, I am extremely appreciating the kind of information you present! You and Mjengwa are among the very few elite Tanzanians with much interest in Rural life and its traditional cultural richness.
Asante sana, napenda sana kutembelea blog yako ingawa mara nyingine unakaa muda mrefu bila kuweka habari mpya tena bila taarifa yoyote kwa wadau!
Nikutakie Heri ya Mwaka mpya toka
Oslo, Norway
Thanks for pointing out the error. It should be Kiabakari, not Makutano. I have made the corrections.
You might be interested to know that the government is planning the construction of a tarmac road from Makutano - Butiama - Nyamuswa - Fort Ikoma - the Loliondo area - and on to Karatu to link Musoma to Arusha. We all look forward to the day when we can travel comfortably by road in a day from Musoma to Dar es Salaam.
This year I will try to post more frequently on this blog. I realize that although there are few comments, there are some viewers who are interested in these posts from Mara region.
Asante sana.
Post a Comment