Andrew
Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge Bureau
CONSTRUCTION of the light vehicles and pedestrians’ terminal under the US$300 million Beitbridge Border Post modernisation project has been completed, with the contractor opening the route for a one-week test run yesterday.
Zimborders Consortium chief executive officer Mr Francois Diedrechsen said civil works that started in January last year had been planned in three phases to ensure there was continuity in traffic flow.
President Mnangagwa has already commissioned the new freight terminal, ICT facilities and bus terminal, which fall under Phases 1 and 2.
“Civil works and other developments are done, but we are currently in the final testing phase and have started diverting some traffic to the terminal. During the next few days, all potential snags will be rectified and final training completed, and the go-live date remains December 5,” said Mr Diedrechsen.
According to the contractor, everything is still on track to be completed as per previously given time lines.
Out-of-port works, he said, include construction of a staff village with 220 housing units for border workers, a 11,4-mega-litre water reservoir, a new fire station and an animal plant quarantine facility, as well as a sewer oxidation dam.
The fire station, sewer oxidation dam and reservoir have been completed, while the animal quarantine will be finished at the end of this month.
The housing units would be ready for occupation in March next year.
The consortium’s general manager, Mr Nqobile Ncube, said in a recent interview that the border post was being transformed under three main pillars, which are the separation of traffic, automation and building efficiencies.
“There was a need to create traffic separation.
“You will recall that in the old border setup, all stakeholders were piled up in one hall.
“This includes commercial traffic, ordinary travel, buses, light vehicles and tourists,” he said.
He said following the automation of services, the human interface between border authorities and clients — which creates room for corrupt activities — was gradually being eliminated.
At a later stage, the authorities intend to introduce another module called the automated number plate reader.
“At certain places where you are seeing people controlling booms, you are only going to be arriving there and your vehicle number plate will be read.
“If all processes were done properly, the robot will read the number plate and communicate with the server and you are good to go,” said Mr Ncube.
Automation, he added, would also give border authorities the ability to electronically audit their processes and take corrective measures where necessary.
He said so far, commercial traffic through Beitbridge has peaked from 300 trucks daily during Covid-19-induced lockdown to around 900 daily.
Mr Ncube said they anticipate the figure to increase to over 1 200 trucks since they are now offering quality services.
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