Chronicle Editor
GOVERNMENT has approved the construction of the 120km Bulawayo-Old Gwanda Road at a cost of US$150 million by a private contractor.
The project is being implemented by Zwane Enterprises under the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement.
Engineer Bekithemba Mbambo who is the CEO of Zwane Enteprises, said his company secured the US$150 million loan from an American partner to fund the project.
Eng Mbambo who comes from Silobi area under Chief Mathe, said the road which passes through Matopo High School is in a terrible state hence he approached Government seeking its approval for his company to work on the road.
He said following Government approval, it was all systems go and work on the project starts today.
He said the target was to complete the project before the end of this year.
Eng Mbambo said once the feasibility study report has been approved and BOT contract signed, the actual road construction work starts.
Zwane Enterprises will recoup its costs from the two toll gates that will be erected along the road.
Eng Mbambo is among Zimbabwean professionals that have gained valuable experience working in the diaspora and has returned home to help build the country starting with improving the road in his home area.
He said because of the bad state of the road, it takes a motorist with a good car, about two-and-a-half hours to travel the 120km stretch.
Government has appealed to Zimbabwean professionals working in the diaspora to return home and contribute to the development of their country.
Eng Mbambo is therefore among those that have taken heed. Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo (Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo).
We want to commend Eng Mambo and other Zimbabwean professionals that have returned home to contribute to the development of their country using their many years of experience working in the diaspora.
Last year, President Mnangagwa commissioned a US$7 million detonators plant at Intrachem Explosives Company in Kwekwe.
The new plant which has an import substitution value of up to US$20 million per year, was established by young Zimbabwean engineers who returned home from South Africa where they were working.
”I am very pleased that these young engineers who were working in SA decided to return and invest back home taking advantage of the conducive investment environment that Government has created,” said President Mnangagwa at the commissioning of the plant.
We want to once again implore Zimbabwean professionals who left the country to seek greener pastures to return home and contribute in the building of the Zimbabwe we all want.
Zimbabwe’s road network is in a terrible state and we need more investors like Eng Mbambo to complement Government efforts to improve the road network.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter