Chirundu Border upgrade on the cards

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau

Chirundu Border Post will be upgraded through a partnership between Chirundu Border Consortium (CBC) and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development as a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer deal, similar to the highly successful upgrade and expansion of the Beitbridge Border Post at the other end of the north-south highway.

New buildings will be constructed and existing ones upgraded, over an estimated period of 24 months.

Speaking after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the BOOT model was premised on the principle that users would pay viable fees, so the consortium could raise finance on projected cashflows with no public funding.

The expansion and upgrade will reduce congestion and delays and speed up traffic into Zambia and the rest of East and Central Africa and traffic coming south from these countries.

“This project will result in enhanced movement of transit traffic as the upgraded Chirundu Border Post will complement the improved efficiency at Beitbridge Border Post and along the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway under construction by Government, thereby making it the preferred regional transit route,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.

“In addition, there will be improved connectedness of Zimbabwe to the region enabling the country to more effectively tap into the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

“We are also looking at employment creation, with the pre-feasibility study indicating that 200 jobs will be created during the construction phase and an estimated additional 80 jobs upon operationalisation of the upgraded modernised border post,” she said.

The development comes after the Government, under a public-private partnership with the Zimborders Consortium, completed the transformation of Beitbridge Border Post at a cost of US$300 million.