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THE permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Mr Munesu Munodawafa has called on private, public partnerships for the upgrading of the Mutare Airport in the wake of inadequate resources by Government at the moment. In an interview last Friday during the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries congress held last week in Mutare, Mr Munodawafa said Government was under-resourced and handling infrastructure resuscitation projects gradually.
The matter arose after CZI national board member, Mr Richard Chiwandire asked Mr Munodawafa on Government’s plans for the Mutare Airport, in the wake of the numerous potential tourists who can cut costs and fly directly to the Eastern Highlands.
“As a ministry, we are very much aware that we need to develop domestic tourism, including infrastructure development, but the bottom line is simple. We need resources to do it.
“So the way we have approached it as Government is to do it in stages. We are working on the Harare International Airport, last year we completed the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport, which we commissioned in December and now we have started working on the Victoria Falls Airport.
“As we are talking today we have reopened the Harare-Kariba route through Air Zimbabwe. So we are taking things stage by stage. We could go full blast if we had the resources,” he said.
On the Mutare Airport, Mr Munodawafa said they were fully aware that the Mutare Airstrip needed upgrading, but they were optimising the little resources they had and would come to other projects gradually.
“Yes, we know Mutare Airport needs to be upgraded but now we are looking at the optimisation of little resources that come through. We are looking at the level of patronage in terms of order, which is why next on our list will be focusing on the Buffalo Range Airport in Chiredzi. However, we will attend to them all.
“But if there are players interested in the Mutare Airport project on a public, private partner they are most welcome,” said Mr Munodawafa. He revealed that the Victoria Falls Airport refurbishments would cost around $150 000, which was a loan to be repaid.
On Chiredzi’s Buffalo Range Airport, Mr Munodawafa said that the Buffalo Range safaris were a major tourist attraction and there was urgent need to upgrade the terminal building at the airport.
Buffalo Range is part of the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Park which is Africa’s largest conservation area covering 35 000km2, interlinking regions in Mozambique, as well as various privately and state-owned conservation areas in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
It also includes areas such as Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park, Mozambican Limpopo National Park and the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
Mr Munodawafa said most tourists intending to visit the Transfrontier Park were arriving through the main international airports in the three country’s capitals, making it costly to visit the area.
“Buffalo Range is part of the Transfrontiers and as things stand our counterparts in South Africa AND Mozambique are ahead of us.
“The terminal building at Buffalo Range is not up to standard. We had international celebrities like Shakira and American billionaire Bill Gates coming here through South Africa. “So we now want to cater for those types of tourists and then also look at other airports like Mutare,” he said.
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