Online Reporter
The distance between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls is about 447km.
A driver moving at a safe speed, on a smooth surface, ordinarily took four hours from one end to the other.
However, the road isn’t smooth anymore.
Heavy trucks carrying mainly coal from Hwange to Bulawayo and other destinations have cratered it to the extent that some of its portions have become untrafficable.
As a result, the four-hour drive has become a 12-hour test of nerves, skill and vehicle strength.
Drivers complained. The Government listened and launched a rehabilitation drive.
It hired seven contractors to do the work under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme Phase 2.
As we report on these pages today, 68km has now been completed and reopened for traffic.
Yesterday, the project lead for the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, Engineer Xolani Ncube opened a 9,2km stretch rehabilitated by Syvern Investment, which took the total distance done so far by the seven companies to 68km.
Eng Arnold Mutungwazi, Syvern Investment’s project manager, said the company has now opened 13,9 kilometres of its allocated 51-kilometre section to traffic.
Now just two detours remain on the first 100 kilometres of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road.
We note the progress that is being made on the road. Sixty-eight kilometres is quite some distance, which means driving is now safer and can be faster on that stretch.
That, too, goes some way in easing driver fatigue and saving vehicles from wear.
The star performer so far is the main contractor Bitumen World, which has opened 20,9km, followed by Syvern Investment, Masimba Holdings (10,3km), Fossil Contracting (6,2km), Tensor Systems (5,6km) and Bitumen Resources (5,4km).
However, we still have a long, long way to go, some 379km.
We urge the contractors to understand that the work that they have accomplished is only a fraction of what is outstanding.
This means that they must intensify their efforts to complete the task at hand as soon as yesterday.
At the same time, we implore the Government to render to the contractors all the necessary support on time so that they can focus on the job at hand.
The fact that the Government recognises roads as local economies must push all involved to work harder for the completion of the modernisation of the important highway.
However, the best way to protect the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road from damage is to ensure that the bulk cargo that is moving on it, damaging it in the process, moves on rail.
We are confident that the efforts to secure deals to rehabilitate the national rail network, including the stretch from
Bulawayo to Victoria Falls, will materialise as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, we can rehabilitate the highway this year, and two days down the line, coal-laden trucks tear it apart once again.
