Group Five resumes work

Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
GROUP Five, the South African firm contracted to rebuild the highway from Plumtree to Mutare has resumed work after the Government and the Development Bank of Southern Africa South (DBSA) resolved a funding impasse that had stalled work.The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Munesu Munodawafa, told Chronicle in Bulawayo on Friday that Group Five had abandoned the project because of funding problems.

He said the problem ensued after the DBSA failed to release funding under the $206 million loan secured by Infralink to carry out the project. Infralink is 70/30 percent a joint venture company between the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) and Group Five in which Zinara is the majority shareholder.  The company was formed specifically for the highway project. It involves rehabilitating 820 kilometres of the road from Plumtree to Mutare through Harare via Bulawayo.

“They had stopped work because of problems with funding but we have rectified that. We met DBSA management on Monday (last week) and discussed all the outstanding issues about the project,” said Munodawafa.

“All the resources are in place now and their teams have returned to the ground. They are doing widening and resealing. At the moment the project is at 65 percent completion.”

DBSA had been withholding funding pending the finalisation of an audit into Infralink’s accounts. The financial institution has now released $38 million, paving the way for work to resume.

Negotiations for the funding of the project started in 2010 and the agreement was signed in 2011 before the actual work started this year in January.

The project, expected to be completed in three years, will see the stretch of road from Plumtree to Mutare being widened to create a shoulder with a yellow lane.

When complete, the highway will meet international standards and 10 state-of-the-art electronic toll plazas will be erected along it.
Part of the road just outside Bulawayo on the highway to Harare has had one lane closed for more than two months, with no work being done.