Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
THE long-awaited construction of the final segment of the Joshua Nkomo Road, connecting Harare Central Business District (CBD) to the Robert Mugabe International Airport, is set to commence imminently, while contractors already working on various roads and interchanges nationwide have been given a strict 12-month deadline to complete these projects.
Following the recent commissioning of the Trabablas Interchange by President Mnangagwa, the Government announced that more new interchanges were on the cards.
These new interchanges will be located at the junctions of Simon Mazorodze and Willowvale roads, and Simon Mazorodze Road and Remembrance Drive, Mabvuku junction, Harare Drive-Mutare Road, Harare Drive-Liberation Legacy Way, Nemakonde Way-Harare Drive, Sam Nujoma-Harare Drive, Westgate Traffic Circle, Kuwadzana Traffic Circle and Churchill/Liberation Legacy Way.
In an interview, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona confirmed the developments.
“The missing link of the Robert Gabriel International Airport Road, which is the Joshua Nkomo Road, we are now connecting it straight into the Great City, going through the railway line, descending into ED Mnangagwa Road and Samora Machel Avenue.
“I am happy that we, as a ministry, have made progress on road construction. We have been busy planning and we have got our roads at our fingertips. When you talk of Harare and other provinces, we can articulate what we are doing,” he said.
Harare, which has more than 3.4 million vehicles, has received particular attention with several roads and traffic interchanges under construction to remove traffic choke points and improve road trafficability.
“So just to mention a few, when it comes to the interchanges, we have been talking about the Mabvuku interchange in terms of decongestion and also in terms of linking to the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and servicing the industrial sector within the Msasa area,” Minister Mhona said.
Around the interchange, traffic will be diverted to detour routes from September 9 to allow the start of construction works.
Along the same corridor that links Harare to Mutare and Mozambique, the country’s closest access to the sea, the Government is also initiating construction works at the Jaggers Intersection.
“We will also attend to the Jaggers intersection that you know we are concurrently working on, as we are working on the Mabvuku Interchange. We are also widening Harare Drive,” the Minister said.
Roads that are expected to be completed in 12 months include the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls road, where, in sections like Insuza, surfacing is underway, with the Ministry of Transport assuring the nation of smooth and safer journeys on the highway that is the gateway to the country’s tourism hub, Victoria Falls.
Elsewhere, the priming phase is now in progress on the Kwekwe-Gokwe-Siyabuwa Road Rehabilitation Project, specifically in the Masakadza Area, while rehabilitation works are also underway along the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road, where 25 km of road is currently under rehabilitation at various stages, with 10 km already having been primed, while 7 km is now trafficable, bringing immediate relief to motorists.
In Masvingo, installation of a mobile asphalt plant is currently in progress in preparation for the application of asphalt concrete on the Mutare-Masvingo Road.
Online Reporter