Falls road contractors accelerate upgrades

REHABILITATION works along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway are progressing at full throttle with the five contractors accelerating upgrades of the critical corridor that links the internationally acclaimed tourism hub with the rest of Zimbabwe and the region.

Matabeleland North Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Richard Moyo, expressed excitement over progress on the ground, telling Zimpapers in an interview, that the Government was happy with the implementation speed.

The five contractors — Fossil Contracting, Masimba Construction, Syvern Investment, Bitumen Resources, and Tensor Systems — were awarded contracts by the Government to rehabilitate the strategic road and are on the ground carrying out works on different portions of the highway that had become impassable due to potholes.

Last week Friday, Matabeleland North Provincial Development Committee stakeholders held a meeting in Lupane, where they reflected on the state of affairs in the province including progress on the highway upgrade, and others such as health, the environment and business.

Minister Moyo said Government was monitoring with keen interest the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road project, until its completion to make sure that upgrades are of the highest quality.

“Government is happy with the speed and efficiency at which the five contractors doing the Bulawayo/Victoria Falls are working.

“It’s important to note that each contractor was allocated a section of the highway and motorists are using detours for the greater part of the road, which is a sign that the contractors are working hard to meet the set deadlines,” said Minister Moyo.

“We will continue to monitor the progress on the ground to make sure the highway is rehabilitated to international standards,” he added.

Commenting on whether the upcoming rainy season will impact on the progress of the rehabilitation works, Minister Moyo said the contractors are competent companies and should meet the deadlines set by Government.

A Chronicle news crew drove along the highway to Lupane last Friday and observed motorists being directed to detours along to allow for smooth operations of the rehabilitation works and traffic.

Construction teams in Insuza were seen using water bowsers on the detours to limit the amount of dust for motorists, largely haulage trucks carrying coal from Hwange and buses using the busy route.

Meanwhile, stakeholders at the Matabeleland North Provincial Development Committee meeting were also informed of the ZWG46 million funding from Treasury to support critical roads repairs and access corridors across districts to ensure smooth economic activities.

Matabeleland North has also been allocated 73 374 litres of diesel to use on its road infrastructure development programmes.

“Matabeleland North province road authorities have been allocated ZWG46 457 586,60. This figure excludes Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (Rida) and the Department of Roads (DOR).

“Of this allocation, ZWG 28 112 760,81 has been disbursed. This equates to 61 percent disbursement,” reads a report paper that was shared with stakeholders during the Friday meeting.

“On fuel, Matabeleland North was allocated 73 374 litres of diesel and 62 percent has been disbursed to date. DOR and Rida have a monthly allocation of 10 000 litres each.”

Minister Moyo said the Government was forging ahead with its roads rehabilitation projects that have to date seen the upgrades of critical corridors such as the Bulawayo-Victoria Road and the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road among others.

“Devolution funds are cascading down to access roads in remote areas of Matabeleland North Province and Government is leaving no place and no one behind in its development agenda,” he said.

“We are happy with the pace at which road infrastructure development projects are moving. We are seeing tangible results on the ground such as the upgrade of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls and the Bulawayo-Nkayi roads that are at different stages of upgrades,” said Minister Moyo.

“The level of development that we are seeing in Matabeleland North is impressive as evidenced by the continued work at the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, which is being given US$5 million every month by Government.

“The Lupane Provincial Hospital is another work in progress so as a province we are happy with the resources that Government is allocating the province for various developmental projects.”

Minister Moyo, however, said he was unhappy with a number of rural district councils (RDCs) that were not fully utilising resources allocated to them by the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) to upgrade access roads that link rural areas with major highways as well as intra community access roads.

“RDCs are allocated fuel for road upgrades such as gravelling access roads in their areas of jurisdiction but we have cases where some RDCs do not use that fuel,” he said.

“As the Minister of State for Matabeleland North I’m not happy with that because communities are suffering as a result of impassable roads that were damaged during the last rainy season but the resources to fix those roads are there, yet not utilised.

“The equipment is there, Zinara fuel is available but we are not seeing progress in terms of road upgrades within some RDCs.”

To address the issue, Minister Moyo said his office will set up a team that will make follow ups within RDCs to see how fuel from Zinara is being utilised and ensure progress on the ground.