Border upgrade a boost for tourism, says Minister

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau 

THE Minister of Tourism and Hospitality, Cde Barbara Rwodzi, has said that the transformation of the Beitbridge Border Post which clears more than seven million travellers annually has enhanced efficiency at the country’s busiest port of entry.

She said the automation of services and separation of traffic had become a game changer as the Government pushes its ease of doing business thrust.

The minister visited the border post last week which is now a hive of activity with travellers entering and leaving the country as part of the “Meet and Greet Campaign.”

The campaign is aimed at welcoming returning residents and international visitors during the festive season.

She said under the current set-up where traffic has been permanently separated into commercial, buses, light vehicles and pedestrians’ terminals, travellers were now spending less time as compared to previous years when they would spend days at the port of entry.

Minister Rwodzi said an efficient border was critical in facilitating growth of tourism within the country.

“We have clustered tourism into different categories, including visiting friends and family, religious tourism, wildlife tourism, holiday tourism among others and hence we are here to support the border agencies to make the border crossing processes seamless,” she said.

“I am impressed with the quality of the facilities here, it is world-class and we have one of the best ports in the region. The border was built in a gender sensitive way; we have rooms for nursing (breast feeding) mothers who may need to attend to the babies while going through different border processes.

We have also noted that the morale of most staff here has been boosted by the quality of the facilities, which include having decent housing units at the new staff village with 220 housing units.’”

Minister Rwodzi said there was now better team work among the 21 border agencies.

She said she will engage her counterparts in Cabinet to support them adequately so that they deliver on their mandate.

As a result of the automation and separation of traffic, the turnover of border clearance has improved and the number of commercial trucks getting back to the Zimbabwe route is gradually increasing.

“We are also of the view that we need to expedite the implementation of the single window facility which will ensure that processes are streamlined to reduce the time travellers are spending at the border,” said Minister Rwodzi.

“In addition, we are going to be introducing a new clearance system that will be able to capture statistics on visitors for specific reasons including those which are tourism-related.”

The minister said more teams have been deployed to all the key ports of entry/exit to ensure there are seamless processes for those entering or leaving the country.

She said the port of entry has become a model in Sadc which had not only changed the face of Zimbabwe but was also a safe zone for travellers following the installation of biometrics to keep undesirable characters from the facilities.

The police officer in charge of operations in Beitbridge, Superintendent Beatrice Nyakurerwa said the new border had helped them improve on policing issues.

“We have three common crimes here, which include thefts from motor vehicles, violation of the Immigration and Protected Places and Areas acts,” she said.

“However, these crimes are going down since we are now able to detect them as a result of the new set-up.”

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) regional manager for Beitbridge Mrs Lonto Ndlovu they were now offering customised services at the three terminals.

She said 70 percent of their workload had been made easier because most of the services were now automated.

Zimborders General manager, Mr Nqobile Ncube said at the moment the volume of commercial traffic is increasing daily as more transporters begin to realise the premium of using this port of entry.

“When the project started, we used to clear around 450 trucks daily but now we are within the region of 900 and we are aiming to surpass 1 000 by next year,” he said.

The acting head of immigration (Beitbridge), Mrs Canisia Magaya said the modernised border had transformed service delivery.