Old Gwanda Road upgrade: Archaeologists roped in

ARCHAEOLOGISTS will be roped in to assist in the removal of graves ahead of the construction of 120km Old Gwanda Road with project engineers expected to start working on the difficult mountainous part of the road this week.

Zwane Enterprise sought an unsolicited bid to transform the 120km Old Gwanda Road from gravel into a modern economically viable route and Cabinet recently gave nod to the project.

The project is expected to cost US$150 million and from that total, US$40 million will be for the road furniture including service stations, construction of toll gates, rural shopping malls, among other key services.

The local investor is now awaiting the Built Operate and Transfer (BOT) license, which will enable it to move to the ground. The construction of the road is expected to unlock economic activities along the Old Gwanda Road corridor while enhancing tourism activities in Matabeleland South.

The road is deemed a tourism gateway to major attractions in Matabeleland South, which has various cultural heritage sites including King Mzilikazi’s tomb, bush paintings and access to national parks.

Zwane Enterprise chief executive officer, Engineer Bekithemba Mbambo, said the implementation of the project will remain community-centric with traditional leaders being included as part of the road construction processes.

“From the engagement, we had with traditional leaders, they suggested that archaeologists be roped especially where graves have to be relocated,” he said.

“So, this is the procedure that we are going to follow where movement of graves is concerned. We are also going to be conducting community engagements so that the communities are aware of what is happening.

“In the coming week or so, we are going to be meeting with communities in Mtshazo under Chief Mathema, as we want them to be involved every step of the way.”

Details on the number of the graves to be relocated are yet to be availed. However, the project will result in 43 homesteads being relocated.

Eng Mbambo said part of the project engineers will start conducting some of the assessments on the rocky parts of the road. He said as opposed to having the road passing in front of Matopo High School, the road has been redesigned to bypass the school and it will now move closer to the mountain.

“We are going to have the engineers going to the difficult section of the road, the Gulabahwa area, which is a mountainous area, to do an assessment of the road on what needs to be done,” he said.

“The same contractor will also do the re-alignment of the road along Mtshabezi River Bridge. We have received a special request that the road be dualised where it connects to Beitbridge Road.”

Eng Mbambo expressed confidence in Government’s commitment to ensure the project comes to life with Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency finalising the Built Operate and Transfer license.

“At the moment, we are waiting for the BOT license to be issued to us, which will then culminate in us moving to the ground. The license is being handled by the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency before it is presented to us. We hope this will be finalised in the next 10 days,” said Eng Mbambo.

“We were hoping that the documents would be signed much faster but nonetheless, we are satisfied with the Government’s commitment towards ensuring that the project is implemented.”

He said for the project to be completed within the stipulated 12 months period, seven contractors have been contracted to work on the road.

Eng Mbambo said six of the contractors will work on the road while an additional one will work on the side of the road.

He re-affirmed that local contractors have been prioritised in the construction of the road.

“As a project right from the beginning, speaking to traditional leaders and even the Government asked us about our employment strategy in that route and we said first and foremost we will employ local people,” said Eng Mbambo.

“That is a promise we will keep and guard jealously. Zwane Enterprise has done some other projects before, maybe technically more complicated than this but of course, in terms of impact and also in terms of visibility not so big.

“We have succeeded in those projects and I will assure you that we will succeed and we will do a good job on Old Gwanda Road,” he said. —@nqotshili