Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT has expressed satisfaction with progress on the construction of the Mabvuku Interchange, which is now 58 percent complete, with the project set to be finished by year-end.
The interchange, situated along the Harare–Mutare Highway, is designed to ease congestion and improve safety on one of Zimbabwe’s key road corridors.
It forms part of a nationwide initiative to decongest roads, reduce road carnage, and modernise transport systems in line with the country’s Vision 2030.
Works on the project began in September last year and milestones have already been achieved, including the completion and installation of some of the beams.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona yesterday led a delegation on a tour of the interchange, as well as the Mutare Road/Harare Drive (Jaggers/Msasa) Interchange and Delport Road, which are also under construction.
He was accompanied by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Engineer Joy Makumbe, chief executive officers and directors from the ministry’s parastatals, as well as officials from contractor Premier Rocks.
The Harare–Mutare Highway carries heavy commuter and commercial traffic from Mabvuku, Tafara and surrounding suburbs into the city centre, while also linking Harare to Mutare and Mozambique.
At peak hours, the section is notorious for congestion and accidents. Once complete, the Mabvuku Interchange is expected to provide lasting relief to road users.
The Mabvuku Interchange follows President Mnangagwa’s commissioning of the Trabablas Traffic Interchange, which seamlessly links Simon Mazorodze, High Glen and Chitungwiza Roads.
Construction of the Delport Road junction is also underway. The road will connect Mutare Road from Mabvuku, Seke Road and Airport Road, creating a dedicated link for traffic heading towards Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and easing congestion along the route.
In an interview after the tour, Minister Mhona said the Government was pleased with the progress made so far.
“This is one of the projects that we are doing in the ministry, and we are so happy that we were here sometime at the beginning of the year monitoring the works. You also witnessed His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) visiting the same place,” he said.
“And what we have seen today is tremendous improvement in terms of the works. We are happy in the sense that we are talking about regional connectivity as being enunciated by our great leader, Cde Mnangagwa. You saw last week he was in South Africa together with his counterpart (President Cyril Ramaphosa), talking about the essence of regional connectivity, and this is one of the roads that we are talking about, where we are feeding into the Beira Corridor.”
“I am happy that as you move from Mozambique, you pass through this interchange towards Chirundu. Not only this corridor, we are also looking at the North-South Corridor which comes through Beitbridge Border Post into Harare and then to Chirundu.”
He said the idea was to ensure quality and accountability from contractors.
“What we are now saying is that as we open this interchange, we also need to open the Jaggers, which is the Harare Drive junction. Not only that, we also have to connect traffic going towards the airport to Chitungwiza using Delport Road. So from here, we have Delport Road and we will see how we can then connect to Chitungwiza. On Chitungwiza Road, we are also going to be having another interchange, known as the Trumpet, which will separate traffic towards the Trabablas interchange,” he said.
“We heard from our resident engineer this year that we are almost at 58 percent. As you know, we were coming from beneath—you cannot see that now because it has been done already—and what has been left now is easier. The tentative completion date for this project is 30th November. We will then be inviting our great leader, Cde Mnangagwa, to commission this project in December,” Minister Mhona said.
He added that the same company would construct 10 more interchanges within the city as part of efforts to decongest Harare.
In a separate interview, the ministry’s Deputy Director of Construction, Engineer Virginia Mawere, said significant milestones had been achieved, with all remaining beams set to be installed within the next 10 days.
Construction of another new interchange recently commenced at the intersection of Harare Drive and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Expressway (formerly Airport Road), as the Government continues to demonstrate its commitment to providing modern, efficient and safe transport infrastructure.
