THE government is working day and night to restore the Lindi - Mtwara road and nain bridges, after the zone was completely cut off from other parts of the country, especially the commercial hub of Dar es Salaam.

Works minister Innocent Bashungwa said yesterday that the government was working to ensure that the road was passable by all means and within a short period of time, supervising the work after camping in the zone from last weekend.

“Let me assure residents that I have camped here, I started from Somanga and now we are at Nangurukuru,” he told reporters on the spot, pointing at the work being done. “We believe that within 72 hours we will have completed the work of restoring communication on this road," he declared.

The government has provided emergency funds to restore communication, cut off in Sunday in the wake of stormy weather linked with cyclone 5 Hidaya, disrupting journeys for passengers traveling to Lindi and Mtwara from Dar es Salaam to get stuck, and vice versa.

Tanzania National Rads Agency (Tanroads) chief executive officer Mohamed Besta was instructed to increase the number of trucks that carry stones plus machinery to load the stones into vehicles, to speed up the filling of holes in the area of the road washed away.

The minister said that despite efforts to order plastic culverts used in emergencies to restore road communication to complete the work on time, builders will have to use metal containers by cutting them to be used as a substitute for culverts and enable water to pass.

He said the Lingaula road was cut by 12 kilometers from Nangurukuru in the direction of Lindi, with affected areas including Mafia in Coast Region, Kilwa in Lindi Region and Ifakara in Morogoro Region, all of which were hit by the cyclone over the weekend.

The southern zone of the Tanzania Forest Service (TFS) on Monday handed moe than 100 roofing sheets valued at just over 2.7m/-for those whose houses were damaged in the rain and gushing winds, and remain without shelter up to now.

The donation was handed to the Loutery Kanoni, the Masasi district commissioner and chairman of the disaster relief committee, for onward delivery to affected families, the environmental agency noted in a briefing.

 During an emergency national disaster committee chaired by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa yesterday, President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s earlier communication  a directive that humanitarian assistance be delivered to the various affected areas urgently was reuterated.

The premier said that the president also directed the Fire and Rescue Force to  speed up rescue efforts in all affected areas, pointing at Kilwa where more than 40 households are surrounded by water.