Victor Maphosa
Mashonaland East Bureau
Construction of the new Melfort Bridge along the Harare-Mutare Highway has reached 75 percent completion, with the project expected to be completed in December.
Completion of the project is expected to pave the way for smoother traffic flow along one of the country’s busiest transport corridors.
The bridge, which is being constructed across the Musitwe River near Melfort Business Centre by Tensor Systems, forms part of Government’s ongoing dualisation of the Harare-Marondera section of the highway.
The dualisation programme is expected to improve road safety, ease congestion and strengthen the movement of goods and people along the Beira Corridor, which links Zimbabwe to the Port of Beira in Mozambique.
In an interview with Zimpapers at the construction site recently, Mashonaland East Provincial Roads Engineer in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Engineer Tatenda Marone Pasipamire, said the contractor was targeting completion of the bridge by December.
He said construction began in May last year, with initial works focusing on the foundations, but progress was subsequently affected by flooding of the Musitwe River.
“This bridge is a project that we started last year in May and we did sub-structures, that is the foundations of the bridge, but then we could not proceed with construction because the river was flooded.
“We then resumed construction in the second quarter of 2026 and right now construction progress is at 75 percent. We are expecting to complete this bridge by December this year,” Eng Pasipamire said.
He said once the main bridge structure was complete, the contractor would turn its attention to constructing the approaches on either side.
“Once we complete the bridge construction, and weather permitting, we will start working on the approaches to the bridge, which we could not work on during this bridge construction,” he said.
Motorists and residents have welcomed the development, saying the second bridge will address longstanding traffic challenges and improve safety along the busy highway.
Mr Tavengwa Gotora said the dualisation programme would particularly benefit motorists by reducing congestion and the risk of road traffic accidents.
“Construction of this bridge is a welcome development and we commend Government for this project, which will ease traffic congestion on this stretch.
“The dualisation programme will assist us motorists, particularly in reducing road traffic accidents. My prayer is for this project to be completed. If the road can be dualised from Harare to Marondera, that will be excellent,” he said.
A Melfort resident, Ms Progress Marunganise, said the new bridge would help address accidents that frequently occur around the old crossing.
“We have seen a lot of accidents occurring near the old bridge. Lives were lost, goods were destroyed and trucks have been damaged. We are excited now, as the people of Melfort, to see progress in terms of this second bridge.”
Currently, motorists travelling along the dualised section of the highway have to merge onto one carriageway to cross the Musitwe River because there is no second bridge.
The new structure will eliminate this bottleneck, allowing traffic to move uninterrupted along both carriageways while reducing congestion and improving journey times.
