AN INNOVATIVE programme to include the local community in road maintenance is creating jobs and upgrading the infrastructure of rural areas of the Eastern Cape. Roads and Public Works MEC Gloria Barry announced in the Bisho legislature that the R7 million budget for the Vukuzakhe project would be doubled to R14-million for the next financial year. The programme will be rolled out to all six districts in the province. Vukuzakhe, which means “wake up and build your own roads,” has created an income for 1 926 households, of which 866 are headed up by women. “This program is also known as the lengthmen program which is a poverty alleviation program aimed at stabilizing destitute families where households, especially female headed households, are contracted instead of individuals to maintain a length of road,” says the MEC. Vukuzakhe is also contributing to increasing the skills base in the province. “In the area of enhancing capacity of the department with respect to recruiting and engaging the necessary technical skills while at the same time affording an opportunity to the young people of the province to gain the necessary practical technical exposure, we are glad, to report that our strategic collaboration with the Eastern Cape Technikon is beginning to pay dividends. Six students who were involved in this project are graduating next month. We have already begun negotiations with Port Elizabeth Technikon for a similar project with focus being Mechanical Engineering. As we expand on this programme we will also incorporate the Cacadu region in the location of our Lengthmen so that we are operational in all the six districts in the provinces,” she said. The public works programme for the Eastern Cape has been increased by 728 per cent, to R65 million.