Civil
works on the upgrading of the $600 million Beitbridge-Harare Highway have begun
following the engagement of five locally-based contractors to work on different
sections of the road.
Transport
and Infrastructure Development Minister Biggie Matiza, who toured the works
between Bubi and Beitbridge yesterday, said the upgrading of the road, which is
part of the North to South corridor (under the African Union classification),
had been divided into five segments.
He said
most of the contractors were already on the ground and that the works had been
divided into two phases.
According
to Minister Matiza, the first phase includes the widening of the road to 12,5 m
to meet the standard SADC road size.
The
second phase, he said, would involve the dualisation of the road from
Beitbridge to Harare.
“What
we are seeing here is the fulfilment of our Government’s pre-election
promises,” said Minister Matiza.
“You
will note that initially we had engaged foreign contractors, but we realised it
could be more expensive and cumbersome to implement the project.
“So
we have identified local contractors who are already on the ground. Each
contractor will in the next seven months work on upgrading their 20km segments,
after which, we will relook the terms and give them another portion. The idea
is to work on the road project in stages.
“Our
target is to complete the upgrading and widening of the highway from its
current state to 12,5 metres. For the Beitbridge section we are having Bitumen
World who have already started on civil works.
“To
avoid dereliction of duty and slow implementation of the project, this time
around we have entered into tight contracts with strict ground rules and
timelines.
“What
is happening on the ground so far shows that all players have the zeal and
passion to move forward together as we seek to transform and upgrade the
country’s road infrastructure.”
Minister
Matiza said Government was equally worried with the state of the road, which links
the country with South Africa and countries north of the Zambezi River.
He said
the road had become a death trap for many travellers and that many people were
now looking at alternative transient routes to avoid Zimbabwe because of the
state of the road.
“We
are losing a lot of human capital and potential revenue from transit commercial
traffic and hence we have to up the tempo in this project,” said Minister
Matiza.
A
representative of Bitumen World Mr Bigboy Sibindi said: “We have started
working on the 20km stretch and we are confident that the project will be
completed as agreed with our client,” he said.
“We are also going to outsource labour from the communities living along this road.”https://allafrica.com/stories/201910290122.html
