Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT is set to construct nine new interchanges along Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Expressway (formerly Airport Road) under a US$250 million project that will transform the route into Zimbabwe’s first high-capacity, controlled-access road linking Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport with Harare’s city centre.
The ambitious infrastructure project is expected to modernise one of Harare’s busiest transport corridors, ease congestion, reduce travel times to the country’s busiest airport and improve road safety.
The expressway is being constructed by local contractor Makomo Engineering, while Ascon Africa is serving as the consulting engineer.
Once completed, the road will become a high-speed dual carriageway designed to accommodate heavy traffic volumes between the airport and the city centre.
The route will start at the intersection of Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Road (formerly Enterprise Road) and Glenara Avenue before terminating at the airport.
Key components of the project include grade-separated interchanges at major intersections such as Dieppe Road and Harare Drive to allow uninterrupted traffic flow.
The project will also feature a viaduct — an elevated road structure supported by pillars — enabling traffic to move over congested sections and natural obstacles without disruption.
Additional engineering works will include flyovers above railway marshalling yards and bridges across the Mukuvisi River to ensure seamless movement along the corridor.
At the airport, the road will terminate with traffic circles and expanded access roads designed to distribute traffic efficiently to the new passenger terminals.
Supporting infrastructure such as drainage systems, street lighting and landscaping will also form part of the development.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona on Monday toured the site of the new interchange being constructed at the intersection of Harare Drive and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Expressway, where preliminary works, including land clearing, have already commenced.
Minister Mhona was accompanied by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Engineer Joy Makumbe, and other senior Government officials.
Speaking during the tour, Minister Mhona confirmed that nine interchanges would be constructed along the corridor.
“The goodness of this new interchange is that, as you have heard from the consultant, on this particular project by end of year will be done, so we will be moving again to the next site,” he said.
“But what the consultant has done now is to have gangs along the corridor on the nine intersections so that they will start working while concentrating on this particular intersection, which should be done by the end of this year.
“And we are saying tentatively within two and a half years we must be done with the entire project.”
Minister Mhona described the development as a long-awaited project that would significantly improve connectivity between the airport and the city centre.
“You heard from the engineers and in particular the consultant that this is a long-awaited project that we were talking about for years,” he said.
“And I want to give thanks to our great leader Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa who has been championing the issues of infrastructure. You have seen that this kind of a road will then enhance connectivity, especially connecting with our Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
He said Government had adopted a financing model involving private sector participation to reduce pressure on the national fiscus.
“We have been working on this particular project for years and trying to come up with a model that would also help lessen the burden from the fiscus and precisely we have done that,” he said.
“And I am happy that this is one scenario where we are having a loan facility and we will have a chance to pay over a certain period of time without stressing the fiscus.
“We are not talking about just one interchange. Tentatively, we are talking about US$250 million for the entire project, which will also include diversion routes at the end of the day.”
