The Sunday Mail
Tawanda Musarurwa
Rehabilitation of the Harare-Beitbridge-Chirundu highway will see 70 percent of the funding coming from the domestic market, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube has said.
The total cost of implementing the project is estimated at $1,2 billion.
It is expected that the use of local funding will create jobs and business opportunities.
It is also expected to boost the local capital markets with plans afoot for the issuance of an Infrastructure Bond next year.
“The funding will be sourced domestically at least 70 percent — because we are crowding in the private sector to fund our own infrastructure, and that’s a good thing because we create jobs, we create opportunities and we deepen capital markets and we would like to see an Infrastructure Bond being launched in the domestic market during 2019 to support the building of this road,” said Minister Ncube.
The Harare-Beitbridge-Chirundu highway facilitates regional trade and the movement of millions of people between Southern, Central and East Africa.
Road works for the Harare-Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway consist of a phased dualisation, rehabilitation and widening of the existing road from the current 7 meter width to Southern Africa Transport and Communications Commission (SATTC) standards of 12,5 meter width, and adding climbing lanes where necessary. 0To address the traffic build-up around major cities and towns along the route, dualisation of at least 10 kilometres towards towns and cities will be undertaken.
According to the ‘2019 Infrastructure Plan’ released by Treasury this month, the rehabilitation of the road through private-public-partnerships (PPPs) has been difficult, hence the switch to seek financing from the domestic market.
“Upgrading the road network through a PPP arrangement has remained a challenge, notwithstanding the difficulties the motoring public continue to face on the route due to its poor state.
“In this regard, Government has since reviewed the delivery model, with local resources also targeted to be used to undertake highway upgrade works, leveraging on Zinara (Zimbabwe National Road Administration) cash flows. Doing so will allow for timeous implementation of the project in a cost-effective manner, and in consistent with the objective of maximising the use of local content,” reads part of the 2019 Infrastructure Plan.
According to the 2019 Infrastructure Plan, an amount of $300 million will be disbursed to the project next year, comprising of $50 million in fiscal resources and $250 million proceeds raised through a Zinara Infrastructure Bond.
