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Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
THE first 7km stretch of the Chairman Mao Boulevard, formerly Old Mazowe Road, from the Westgate roundabout to Gwebi River Crossing, was opened to traffic yesterday following the completion of its upgrade, with Parliamentarians expressing satisfaction.
The scope of the road project included widening, resurfacing and remarking.
Its reopening marks another milestone in the construction and upgrading of infrastructure under the Second Republic since 2018.
Works on roads to be used during the 44th SADC Summit to be hosted by Zimbabwe are scheduled to be completed by June 30.
Yesterday, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Transport and Infrastructural Development Deputy Minister Joshua Sacco and the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development Cde Knowledge Kaitano, were among the people who witnessed the official reopening of the road.
In an interview, Cde Kaitano said the opening of the stretch was going to make it easy to access the new Parliament Building and surrounding areas.
“We really need to appreciate the visionary leadership of His Excellency, President Mnangagwa.
“We have seen a lot of great works happening in this country in the past few years. This road is world class. Honourable Members of Parliament were taking a lot of detours to Parliament, but that is no longer the case,” he said.
Deputy Minister Sacco expressed satisfaction with the work of the contractor, Bitumen World.
“This was done by Zimbabweans using Zimbabwean funding. There was no external funding for this development so this is very exciting for us as the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development as we move towards upgrading infrastructure across the country,” he said.
He said the contractors had also created employment opportunities for locals.
Bitumen World site manager Engineer Bigboy Sibindi said: “We are very proud to be associated with this kind of project. We closed this road just after Easter and in a few weeks, we have completed the project.
“We went about our business seriously and we understood that the Government wanted the project to be delivered on time.”
He said they were happy that they finished the project without any injuries and accidents to both the public and their employees.
Motorists and residents around the area thanked the Government and the contractor for completing the project on time.
Transport Minister Felix Mhona last week said the Government was working around the clock to ensure the successful hosting of the SADC Summit.
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