The Sunday Mail
The US$2 billion dollar Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway will unlock massive benefits for Zimbabwe, creating jobs for thousands, boosting trade and becoming one of the busiest roads on the continent — linking Southern and Central Africa.
The dualised road is expected to increase trade between Zimbabwe and its neighbours, with the country gaining from transit fees.
The project is one of the infrastructure ventures identified as an economic enabler under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation.
In his Independence Day speech last month, President Mugabe said all was set for rehabilitation of the road after a financier committed to bankroll the massive project.
Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Dr Jorum Gumbo last week told The Sunday Mail that the project had been given priority status and funding would start coming in between June and July.
He said Government expected to complete the project between three and five years.
“We are currently working on the details of the project. The President officially announced that we have struck an agreement with the financier and the contractor for the deal. This was confirmation that the deal is a reality,” he said.
“The President is constantly asking me to provide progress on this road and he has given me an instruction that no mistakes should be made.
“There are a lot of agreements that have to be signed. So this is the work that we are currently undertaking. We are finalising the negotiations with the contractor whom we shall not name now but we will unveil everything when we officially launch the deal.
“It will not only benefit Zimbabwe but the whole of Southern Africa. It will be Southern Africa’s gateway for trade with countries such as the DRC, Zambia, and Tanzania. It is a very important road for the economies of all these countries and it will lead to the socio-economic transformation of many lives.”
Dr Gumbo said they were negotiating with the financier and contractor to ensure up to 50 percent of all jobs related to the project would be reserved for Zimbabweans.
“We are negotiating with the financier and contractor to ensure that between 40 percent and 50 percent of all materials for the deal is purchased locally. All materials that can be procured in Zimbabwe and we will only import what is only very necessary.
“We are looking at thousands of jobs being created. That is, from the high level engineering work to the manual workers who will assist in odd jobs such as bush clearance for the road from Beitbridge to Harare to Chirundu.
“So you can see that products such as quarry stones, the bitumen, and the emulsions etcetera will be provided from local sources, meaning a boost for industries which produce such materials.”
“We have given ourselves a period of between three to five years to complete the project. It will be set up in such a way that the road will stretch from Beitbridge to Chirundu but there will be a ring road when the road comes to Harare.”
Engineering Council of Zimbabwe president Engineer Ben Rafemoyo said the engineering sector expected a boost as a result of the highway.
“We are hopeful that the authorities will provide to us a significant part of the work. This means millions of dollars will flow in the engineering sector,” he said. “This will enable them to buy new equipment as well as benefit from skills transfer.”
The Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway has outlived its design life as has been in use for over 55 years against a 20-year lifespan.
Dualisation has been considered as the only option for the road which has high volumes of traffic that have resulted in high rate of accidents.
Zim-Asset identifies the road as one of the projects that must be undertaken to facilitate economic development.
Zim Highways Consortium was first awarded the tender to construct the road, before Government withdrew the tender leading the company to go to court, before it eventually withdrew the case paving way for a new contractor.
