Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba-Senior Reporter
The construction of the Willowvale Road traffic circle, aimed at managing congestion at the intersection of Willowvale Road and Harare Drive, is almost complete, with the whole stretch up to Simon Mazorodze Road set to be opened to traffic on Monday, February 23, 2026.
This comes after the Government completed the construction of Harare Drive between Willowvale Road and Simon Mazorodze Road, and road markings have since been put in place.
In a statement, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development confirmed the developments.
“Mark your calendars for February 23, 2026. Join us at Chinzou Roundabout as we open the newest stretch of the Harare–Beitbridge highway, the Harare Drive between Simon Mazorodze and Highfield Road, to traffic,” reads the statement.
This development comes after, in 2024, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona opened the completed Harare Drive missing link road and Mukuvisi River Bridge, which fall under the Trabablas Interchange.
The road and the bridge are a link from Chinzou to Masotcha Ndlovu and are 800m long.
It is part of Harare Drive and links the east to the west.
The Trabablas Interchange (formerly known as the Mbudzi Interchange) in Harare is made up of 15 major bridge structures, with 13 located directly within the main interchange area and two additional bridges situated on nearby arterial routes (Amalinda Road and Harare Drive).
Meanwhile, the Government has also completed the construction of an asphalt plant on the outskirts of the city at Skyline, which will also be commissioned this Monday.
Last year, the Government acquired two new asphalt plants for Harare and Bulawayo as part of a strategic drive to build internal capacity and reduce the high costs of outsourcing road maintenance work.
The initiative forms a cornerstone of a broader national plan to eventually deploy at least one asphalt plant in each of the country’s ten provinces by recapitalising the Department of Roads to upscale road construction and maintenance efforts towards Vision 2030.
The Department of Roads falls under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
Asphalt plants will be used for the production of premix used for road reseals and pothole patching in the maintenance of roads.
Asphalt refers to a combination of bitumen (tar), sand, cement and some chemical additives that are mixed together at high temperatures, depending on engineers’ specifications, and are used for major construction projects.
Minister Mhona recently said: “The Government of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, is in the process of recapitalising the Department of Roads to upscale road construction and maintenance efforts towards Vision 2030. The installation of an asphalt plant under Harare Metropolitan Province is in progress at Skyline.
“The asphalt plant will be used for the production of premix used for road reseals and pothole patching in the maintenance of roads. The plant also boasts a capacity to supply the seal for major construction works. The recapitalisation exercise will see each of the 10 provinces being equipped with an asphalt plant.”
