All major roads to be dualised: Minister

David Shumba Harare Bureau
Government plans to dualise all the country’s major roads to improve safety and infrastructure, a Cabinet Minister said recently. Speaking after touring Chivake River Bridge, in Murehwa, which was being repaired, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Obert Mpofu said government would press ahead with the dualisation of other major roads as soon as work on roads under construction was complete.

“This road (Harare-Nyamapanda) is part of our priority projects,” he said.

“Plans for the dualisation of this Harare-Nyamapanda road are being processed right now. It is going through the normal processes of government, but it is our priority.”

After the dualisation of the Plumtree-Harare-Mutare road, Minister Mpofu said work on the dualisation of Harare-Nyamapanda, Harare-Chirundu, Bulawayo-Victoria Falls, Bulawayo-Beitbridge would be done after courting investors.

Minister Mpofu said the Ministry of Finance had asked his ministry to prepare budgets for the dualisation of the roads.

“I was talking to the secretary discussing some communication from the Ministry of Finance which has asked us to give specific requirements for the implementation of these programmes and we are going to do that,” he said.

He said revenue collected from tollgates had helped in carrying out repairs of Chivake River Bridge.

His ministry, he said, plans to construct more tollgates to generate revenue for the dualisation of major roads.

Work to repair the Chivake River Bridge was expected to be completed early next month.

The rehabilitation and dualisation of the country’s major roads was in line with the economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable, Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset).

Zim-Asset recognises road infrastructural development as a major driver of economic development.

Last year, Zimbabwe launched the National Transport Policy to co-ordinate the development of road infrastructure as government courts investors for the dualisation of other major trunk roads.

The National Transport Policy was crafted to address the challenges facing the transport and communications sector in Zimbabwe.