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Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
AUTHORITIES at the modernised Beitbridge Border Post have come up with a raft of measures to tackle congestion in anticipation of a sharp increase in both human and vehicular traffic during the festive season.
Scores of people, particularly Zimbabweans working in South Africa commonly known as injiva, are expected to return home to spend the Christmas holidays with their families.
During the peak period, Beitbridge Border Post is synonymous with long winding queues of travellers resulting in congestion. The border handles about 2 000 commercial trucks, 300 buses, 3000 light vehicles, 20 000 travellers daily with the numbers tripling up during the holidays.
However, this year, travellers using the border post are likely to experience less congestion following the separation of traffic into commercial, buses and light vehicles categories.
The ZimBorders Consortium secured nearly US$300 million for the upgrade and modernisation of Beitbridge Border Post, the country’s busiest port of entry and one of the region’s key transit points.
The consortium is made up of a group of Zimbabweans, South Africans, international entrepreneurs, financial institutions and experts. Construction and development of all works — both in port and out of the port — is scheduled to be completed in 30 months.
The project is being implemented under a public-private partnership involving the Government and private players who are providing funding.
It is being implemented under a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement which will see ZimBorders recouping its funds through border access fees to be collected over 17-and-a-half years, before handing over the property to the Government.
It is also envisaged that the volume of humans and cargo will increase when the project is completed next year.
Each category of traffic gets customised services depending on their needs at the three terminals.
Already, most border agencies have been witnessing an improved traffic flow system since the opening of all the terminals.
The freight terminal opened to traffic in October last year while the bus terminals started operating in June this year. The light vehicles and pedestrian terminal opened to traffic last Saturday.
In an interview yesterday, the regional immigration officer-in-charge of Beitbridge, Mr Joshua Chibundu said they have deployed adequate manpower to handle an influx of travellers during the festive season.
“We are ready, and we will ensure that all the terminals are well catered for in terms of staff deployment. We will assess the situation and make the necessary adjustments depending on traffic flow, but for now we are still managing,” he said.
Mr Chibundu said the border post efficiency management committee is working on a consolidated festive season plan to ensure that traffic is cleared efficiently.
The officer commanding police in Beitbridge District, Chief Superintendent Tichaona Nyongo said the police are ready to deal with any form of criminality at the border.
“We will ensure that travellers are safe and their security is guaranteed during the festive season. In fact, we are ready and adjustments will be made depending on the situation on the ground,” he said.
A Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) official said starting December 15 until December 24, they will beef up their human capital.
ZimBorders Consortium general manager Mr Nqobile Ncube said they have started benefitting from the modernised border post.
He said the automation of services and separation of traffic has helped address efficiency challenges at the border post with commercial cargo being cleared in less than three hours unlike in the past when clients would spend a day or more being cleared.
“We are now able to clear 60 percent of commercial cargo arriving at Beitbridge. At the moment, we are working on clearing at least 90 percent of the cargo after the completion of all three border terminals,” said Mr Ncube.
On the South African side, they have also started working on separating traffic routes for pedestrians, motorists, buses and commercial trucks. — @tupeyo
Online Reporter