adminThe Government has also brought in a state-of-the-art pothole sealer to complement the two companies that won multimillion-dollar tenders to rehabilitate the road network in the resort town.
In the same vein, 99 percent work on the rehabilitation of the water and sewer reticulation projects has been done to increase water supplies to the town before and after the general assembly.
In an interview in Victoria Falls, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development, Mr Munesushe Munodawafa said projects such as the rehabilitation of the road network, the water and sewer reticulation, the construction of a new 4km runway and a new terminal at the Victoria Falls International Airport and refurbishment of the Victoria Falls District Hospital were all now at different levels with some of them nearing completion.
“The Government has been planning, not just for the UNWTO, but we are looking beyond the tourism indaba.
“It will not be possible to finish some of the projects like the new terminal and a four kilometre runaway at Victoria Falls International Airport in time for the holding of the general assembly scheduled for August,” he said.
He said the 720-metre road paving from the Victoria Falls border to the Bridge linking Victoria Falls and Livingstone is now complete and so is the 10km strip between Victoria Falls and Kazungula border post which was being rehabilitated.
“In terms of water and reticulation, water pipes to supply water to the Victoria Falls International Airport have been laid. We are also resealing roads in Victoria Falls and two companies were awarded tenders for that task.
“Working with the Department of Roads, a state-of-the-art pothole sealer was sent here to comprehend these two companies and therefore in the next two months, the roads will have been resurfaced,” he said.
Added Mr Munodawafa: “We are way ahead of schedule in terms of the state of preparedness.”
Mr Munodawafa indicated that the completion of the new control terminal and the runaway was not an issue because the current one had the capacity to hold the traffic during the tourism indaba.
“When we won the bid to host the conference it was not a pre-requisite that we should build a new runaway as the current one has been internationally certified that it can hold international flights.
“Currently, the airport can handle four international planes per hour and is therefore able to handle about 10 planes per day, which we are anticipating during the general assembly and therefore we are within the UNWTO expectations.
“We have the capacity and we have even exceeded the UNWTO expectations of handling the capacity of the anticipated number of delegates at the airport and in town at large.
“As I said, the terminal building is not an issue here. If I can take you back to 2009, we hosted the Comesa Summit where more than 20 Heads of State and Government arrived at the airport using their private chartered planes.
“We also had delegates who arrived in scheduled planes and they all passed through the terminal. So far, we are not expecting such volumes since the conference is for ministers and some officials, who at most will arrive in scheduled planes and we can handle the situation,” he said.
Mr Munodawafa said they have also enlisted the services of Rooney’s to put additional handling capacity for checking-in to avoid queues at the airport.
“No one is going to stand outside the terminal when checking in because we are working with Rooney’s, which will put in place additional structures for check-in purposes so that no one stands in a queue for a long time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UNWTO inspectorate made up of chief of conferences Mr Munir Rayes and regional director for Africa Mr Ousmane Ndiaye completed their inspection of facilities in place, the venue and a few other logistical issues in Victoria Falls.
The team ended its third visit to the country on a high note towards the countdown to the general assembly amid indications that they have been overly impressed with developments on the ground.
The team left for Livingstone, Zambia, where it was to assess facilities and meet Zambian officials before departing for Madrid, Spain today.
Online Reporter