Raymond Jaravaza, Zimpapers Reporter
THE eight contractors awarded contracts to rehabilitate the 440KM Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway are back on site after Government secured US$400 million infrastructure financing package to accelerate the upgrade of three major highways.
The three major highways – Beitbridge/Harare, Harare-Chirundu Highway and Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway- serve as economic lifelines, linking production centres, tourism destinations and regional trade corridors.
The Zimbabwe National Roads Agency (Zinara), a parastatal responsible for mobilising, collecting and managing funds for the maintenance of the country’s national road network, secured the CBZ infrastructure bond backed by its ring-fenced funds to finance works on the three major highways.
The investment comes as the Second Republic intensifies efforts to modernise the country’s transport infrastructure, recognising that reliable roads are essential for reducing the cost of doing business, improving the movement of goods and people and strengthening Zimbabwe’s competitiveness as a regional trade and investment destination.
The three highways have strategic economic significance beyond domestic connectivity. The Beitbridge-Harare Highway is a critical route for trade with South Africa and the movement of imports and exports. At the same time, the Harare-Chirundu Highway connects Zimbabwe to Zambia and markets further north.
The Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway links the country’s second-largest city to Matabeleland North and Victoria Falls, one of Zimbabwe’s prime tourism destinations.
