Gas leak at border forces authorities to re-route traffic

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau

A GAS leak at the light vehicles and pedestrians terminal on Monday forced authorities at the border post to evacuate the building and re-route traffic to the bus terminal.

There are three terminals catering for cargo, buses and light motor vehicles and pedestrians respectively at the port of entry.

Specialists have been called to the border to fix the problem ahead of the re-opening of the terminal.

ZimBorders Consortium general manager, Mr Nqobile Ncube, said on Tuesday that they were expecting the terminal to open for business later in the day.

“Traffic from the pedestrian terminal was re-routed to the bus terminal yesterday due to a gas related occurrence and evacuation was undertaken as a precautionary measure,” said Mr Ncube.

“The challenge has since been identified and is being rectified and all things being equal normal operations should resume by 1400 today.

“All relevant agencies are on the ground and we are confident that the site will be safe by cited time and any inconvenience incurred is sincerely regretted”.

Government and the ZimBorders Consortium modernized the Beitbridge Border Post at a cost of US$300 million under a 17 and half year private public partnership.

Under the agreement, ZimBorders Consortium is managing and maintaining the facility for the duration of the concession pending its handover to the Government.