Online Reporter
THE Government recently launched the rehabilitation of the 435km Bulawayo to Victoria Falls Road.
It picked five contractors — Fossil Contracting, Masimba Construction, Syvern Investment, Bitumen Resources and Tensor — with a target to completing the job within 10 months.
Authorities decided to do the needful after a long period of public complaints that the highway had fallen into disrepair, riddled with multiple, huge potholes which made traffic accidents very common.
Instead of the normal six or so hours, a drive from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls or the other way was taking up to 12 hours. That demanded nerves of steel, a great amount of patience, agility and a robust vehicle.
It is great that the Government listened and launched the work. By June-July next year, we are sure, the highway would be in its best shape, just like the Beitbridge-Harare and the Bulawayo-Harare ones.
However, we are deeply concerned that the reason why the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road got torn as it was before the rehabilitation started may cause it to get torn again as soon as the work that is underway is finished and it is opened for traffic.
The main reason why the road was bad was the incredibly high intensity of heavy trucks moving on it, going to Hwange to load coal and bringing it to markets in Bulawayo, Harare and elsewhere across the country.
The work which is ongoing is more than important, we acknowledge, and will make that corridor smarter and safer to drive on, but we suggest that it is complemented with a serious and sustained drive to ensure that the highway shares the load with rail.
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is grappling with a number of challenges which are compromising its ability to move bulk cargo as efficiently as it must.
We recognise some initiatives that have been announced over the past few months to ensure that the NRZ gets back on track so it can contribute to greater national development. It will move bulk cargo more efficiently and cost effectively, and create more jobs while at the same time contributing to better road quality.
We thus urge NRZ management and other stakeholders to accelerate the search for investment so that whatever work must be done to enhance its efficiency gets done as soon as possible.
As mentioned, that work is urgent as the rehabilitation that is going on on the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road. It would be good for the parastatal, reduce costs involved in transportation of bulk cargo such as coal, ease pressure on roads while driving national economic development and growth.
