The Sunday Mail
Deputy News Editor
GOVERNMENT has rolled out an estimated US$60 million for the second and final phase in upgrading the Harare International Airport Road to world class standards which will see the highway being linked to Enterprise Road and the introduction of toll gates. President Robert Mugabe opened the first phase of the road rehabilitation last year.
Plans are now underway for the road to cut through Braeside, National Railways of Zimbabwe marshalling yard, Robert Mugabe and eventually Enterprise Road.
According to a Government Gazette published on Friday, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development is inviting bids for technical and financial proposals for feasibility studies ahead of the multi-million dollar second phase. Part of the gazette read: “The ministry intends to engage the services of a consulting engineering firm for consultancy services for the feasibility study of the improvements to upgrading, construction and tolling of Harare International Airport Road from Enterprise Road to Harare International Airport through Build, Operate and Transfer financing model.”
The services that are being sourced by the Government include economic feasibility, impact on development, potential environment impacts, preliminary engineering design, viability of the Build, Operate and Transfer project and cost estimates of the whole route.
According to initial plans, the road will accommodate an overpass of about half a kilometre.
The second phase will see some Braeside residents whose houses are situated along the way being reallocated residential properties elsewhere.
The road, which was first designed in 1964, was supposed to be a two-lane dual carriageway with seven bridges, cycle tracks and pedestrian paths. The express way is designed to start at the southern end of Enterprise Road with a bridge across Robert Mugabe Road and a link to Seventh Street at the periphery of the Central Business District.
