adminThupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge Bureau
The new Beitbridge fire station being built as part of the US$300 million Beitbridge border post modernisation is nearing completion, an official has said.
The fire station, an animal quarantine facility, a new sewage oxidation dam, a landfill, roads upgrading, construction of 220 staff houses, and 11,4 megalitres of water reservoir are some of the facilities away from the borer post under construction as part of the post modernisation,
Government and the Zimborders Consortium are implementing the massive infrastructure development initiative on a 17,5-year concession with Zimborders to build, operate and transfer the new facilities.
Zimborders Consortium’s general manager Mr Nqobile Ncube said the fire stations will ensure that the town has the fire and emergency rescue services. The project will be completed in the next five months.
“As you have noted, the Beitbridge border post-transformation project has some spillover effects on the local town’s infrastructure development,” said Mr Ncube.
“Inside the port of entry we are building the freight terminal (already operating) under phase 1, a buses’ terminal under phase 2, and the pedestrian and light vehicles terminal (phase 3). The last two terminals will be ready for use in June and November this year.
“So, we are now in the carrying out full-scale civil works inside the Beitbridge community and this fire station is going to be a milestone achievement.”
Mr Ncube said the new fire station was an assurance for the broader Beitbridge community in relation to emergency and fire rescue services. He said since time immemorial, the Beitbridge Municipality and the Rural District Council had been struggling to attend to fire-related emergencies due to inadequate equipment.
“You will recall that in the past there have been a lot of issues in the media about fires and challenges within the local authority in their ability to attend to fire and related incidents.
“The trigger aspect of the challenges which the border post on its own had when some State-warehouses got burnt down and all the other infrastructures.”
Mr Ncube said the consortium was working on creating a safe environment for the transformation of the port of entry.
“At the end of the day there must be a legacy benefit to this massive project is taking place,” he said. “It must not only be the people that use the border post that will be end beneficiaries.”
Mr Ncube said the fire station was a high-value institution.
Zimborders would ensure the best equipment and manpower in tandem with the border traffic and the town’s continued infrastructure growth. Beitbridge Town Clerk, Mr Loud Ramakgapola, said the municipality was excited with the spillover effects of the border modernisation project. “The border post-transformation comes in with a lot of infrastructure development initiatives, some of them have been in our plans for a long time, but could not take off due to limited resources,” he said.
“Our sewer system has been upgraded and we have a fire station that is coming up, the road network is being upgraded from the border post towards the major cities including Bulawayo and Harare.
“In addition, the Zimborders Consortium is also going to assist us to modernise our dumpsite in the west of the town, where we have already identified a site.”
Mr Ramakgapola said the construction of a new 11,4 megalitres reservoir will boost the town’s water supply capacity to supply at least 18 megalitres of water daily.
Online Reporter